As Global Leaders Debate Critical Mineral Security at the G7, Sparkz Advances America’s First End-to-End Domestic LFP Battery Ecosystem for AI and Data Center Infrastructure

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 15, 2026
SACRAMENTO, CA. — As world leaders and industry stakeholders debate how to reduce dependence on foreign-controlled critical mineral supply chains, Sparkz today called for a coordinated public-private partnership to accelerate the development of a fully domestic battery supply chain capable of supporting America’s rapidly expanding artificial intelligence infrastructure, defense industrial base, and energy security objectives.
The announcement comes amid growing international concern regarding China’s dominance across critical minerals, battery materials, and battery manufacturing. Discussions surrounding the Trump Administration’s critical minerals pricing strategy and broader G7 efforts to secure strategic supply chains have highlighted the urgency of establishing resilient domestic production capacity for technologies essential to economic competitiveness, national security, and AI leadership.
Sparkz believes the United States must move beyond isolated manufacturing projects and instead develop a comprehensive domestic battery ecosystem that spans the entire value chain—from critical battery materials to battery cells and battery energy storage systems powering the next generation of AI infrastructure.
“Artificial intelligence is creating an unprecedented demand for reliable power infrastructure,” said Sanjiv Malhotra, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sparkz. “America cannot achieve AI leadership while remaining dependent on foreign-controlled battery supply chains. The same infrastructure that powers data centers, defense systems, and advanced manufacturing must be built on secure domestic production capabilities. The challenge before us is not simply manufacturing batteries, it’s building the industrial foundation that will support America’s economic and technological leadership for decades to come.”
Sparkz is building that foundation through a vertically integrated domestic manufacturing strategy that includes U.S.-produced lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode active materials, battery cells, and battery energy storage systems designed to support AI campuses, hyperscale data centers, utilities, defense installations, and critical infrastructure.
AI Leadership Requires Energy Leadership
Data centers supporting AI applications require reliable, resilient, and increasingly localized energy resources capable of supporting around-the-clock operations.
Battery energy storage systems are expected to play a foundational role in enabling AI data center growth, providing resiliency, load management, backup power, and grid stabilization capabilities.
Sparkz’s battery energy storage platform is specifically designed to support this emerging demand by creating a secure domestic energy backbone for AI infrastructure and critical facilities.
Building America’s Software-Defined Industrial Base
As AI infrastructure scales, industry leaders are increasingly recognizing the need for software-enabled manufacturing, secure supply chains, and resilient energy infrastructure capable of supporting unprecedented demand for power and critical materials.
Sparkz shares this vision and believes the future of American manufacturing will be defined by highly automated, AI-enabled production facilities operating within secure domestic supply chains. By combining advanced manufacturing, battery materials production, energy storage systems, and software-driven operational intelligence, the United States has an opportunity to create a new industrial model capable of supporting AI infrastructure, defense readiness, and long-term economic competitiveness.
Public-Private Partnerships Are Essential
Sparkz emphasized that rebuilding America’s critical minerals and battery supply chains cannot be accomplished by the private sector alone.
The company believes meaningful progress will require coordinated collaboration among federal agencies, state governments, utilities, infrastructure developers, defense stakeholders, technology companies, and private investors.
Recent efforts by leaders across the defense innovation ecosystem, including those associated with DARPA-(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) supported initiatives and national security technology programs, have reinforced the importance of rapidly expanding domestic industrial capacity to support strategic technologies.
“America’s industrial competitiveness will be determined by our ability to align public policy, private capital, advanced technology, and domestic manufacturing,” said Malhotra. “The battery supply chain is no longer simply an energy issue. It is an AI issue, a national security issue, and an economic competitiveness issue.”
Scaling a Modular Manufacturing Blueprint
To meet rapidly growing domestic demand, Sparkz has developed a modular manufacturing architecture designed to enable repeatable deployment of battery material production facilities across the United States.
The company’s next manufacturing facility will serve as a blueprint of this modular and scalable production model, that can be replicated and expanded as demand grows from AI infrastructure, defense systems, grid modernization, and critical manufacturing sectors.
Meeting with Global Infrastructure Investors
Sparkz CEO Sanjiv Malhotra is presenting this week at the DLA Piper Charging Up Capital 2026 Forum in London and meeting with leading infrastructure investors, policymakers, and industry stakeholders.
Those discussions are expected to focus on the growing intersection of AI infrastructure, energy security, critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, and the investment required to build resilient domestic supply chains.
About Sparkz
Sparkz is an American battery technology and manufacturing company building a fully domestic lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery supply chain. The company develops and manufactures cathode active materials, battery cells, and battery energy storage systems designed to support AI infrastructure, data centers, grid modernization, defense applications, residential energy storage, and commercial electrification.
Contact: Michelle Bandur, VP of Marketing and Communications
michelle@sparkz.energy

Founder & CEO

Dr. Sanjiv Malhotra

Dr. Sanjiv Malhotra is the founder and CEO of Sparkz—the battery start-up reinventing the energy supply chain.

 

Malhotra has been a leader in the energy sector for nearly three decades as a founder, investor and executive. Most recently, he served as the inaugural director for the Energy Investor Center at the U.S Department of Energy (DOE), serving under both Democratic and Republican administrations.

 

At DOE, Malhotra led the Obama Administration’s initiative to boost public-private partnerships to accelerate the commercialization of technologies developed in national research centers like Oak Ridge National Labs.

 

Malhotra was recruited to the Department of Energy after a successful exit of Oorja Protonics—the world leader in methanol fuel cells—which he founded and led as CEO for 10 years. Oorja raised $50 Million in equity financing from leading VCs such as Sequoia, DAG Ventures, Artis Capital and others during his tenure. He boosted Oorja’s revenue and profitability growth, while expanding operations globally in Japan, China, South Africa, Mexico, and India.

 

Oorja was acquired in 2014 by the Private Equity firm MinXing Growth Fund.

 

As an investor and consultant, Malhotra has worked at leading venture capital firms, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers as an advisor on clean energy and advanced materials.

 

Earlier in his career, Malhotra led the engineering and product development team at H Power, a pioneer in hydrogen fuel cells. As part of the management team, he managed the successful IPO, which raised more than $100 million in August 2000.

 

He began his career as a post-doctoral fellow at the renowned Lawrence Berkeley National Labs on electrochemical storage systems. Dr. Malhotra has authored seven patents and more than 40 publications in various fields of energy storage technology and materials. He holds a PhD in chemical engineering and an M.B.A from University of Iowa.