According to Sawyer Merritt, Redwood Materials has officially started operations at its new $3.5 billion battery recycling facility in South Carolina, introducing a system capable of recovering 20,000 metric tons of critical minerals annually (source: Sawyer Merritt, Twitter). This development addresses the AI and electric vehicle (EV) sectors' urgent need for a stable supply of essential materials such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel, which are vital for manufacturing advanced batteries powering AI-driven applications and autonomous systems. The factory's launch represents a significant step toward strengthening the domestic supply chain, reducing reliance on foreign imports, and enhancing the sustainability of AI hardware and EV production in the United States (source: Sawyer Merritt, Twitter).