Coreshell has signed an eight-year supply agreement with South Korea’s L&F Co., Ltd. to source lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode material outside of China. The deal addresses cathode sourcing, historically one of the least resilient links in the battery supply chain despite being the most expensive and performance-critical component in a lithium-ion cell. L&F is one of the world’s largest producers of LFP cathode active materials and manufactures at commercial scale without relying on China, according to Coreshell. The agreement runs alongside Coreshell’s existing silicon-anode partnership, which the company says now gives it a raw-material-to-finished-cell supply chain free of materials from Chinese entities of concern.
Highlights
- Coreshell signed an eight-year supply agreement with South Korea’s L&F Co., Ltd. to source LFP cathode active material outside of China.
- Combined with its existing silicon-anode partnership with Ferroglobe, Coreshell says it is now the only battery manufacturer to have scalably solved Chinese dominance in both the anode and cathode.
- The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) requires U.S. defense systems to be free of Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) materials by 2027; South Korea’s non-FEOC status means L&F’s materials already meet NDAA, OBBB, and Department of War sourcing standards.
- Cathode active material is the single most expensive component in a lithium-ion battery cell and helps determine its energy density, cycle life, safety, and cost.
The L&F Agreement
Under the eight-year deal, L&F will supply Coreshell with LFP cathode active material manufactured in South Korea rather than China. Combined with Coreshell’s silicon-anode partnership with Ferroglobe — which replaces Chinese graphite with metallurgical silicon already mass-produced in Alabama and Ohio — the new agreement gives Coreshell both core battery components, cathode and anode, sourced outside China, according to the company.
The length of the agreement matters for customers with long qualification timelines. Battery programs for defense, EV, and other OEM applications can take years to qualify and launch, and Coreshell says the eight-year term gives customers confidence that critical materials will remain available over that horizon rather than for just a year or two.
Why Cathode Sourcing Has Lagged
Cathode active material is the single most expensive component in a lithium-ion battery cell, and it helps determine a battery’s energy density, cycle life, safety, and cost. Despite that role, cathode material has remained one of the least resilient links in the battery supply chain, creating bottlenecks for North American battery manufacturers and OEMs, according to Coreshell. Many defense systems, commercial and passenger EVs, and battery energy storage systems (BESS) rely on batteries with LFP cathodes for their safety, durability, and long cycle life.
NDAA and FEOC Compliance
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) requires U.S. defense systems to be free of materials from Foreign Entities of Concern (FEOC) by 2027. Because South Korea is not classified as a Foreign Entity of Concern under U.S. policy, L&F’s cathode materials already meet current FEOC requirements, including those under the NDAA, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), and sourcing standards from the U.S. Department of War — the secondary title the Department of Defense has used in public communications since a September 2025 executive order.
For defense customers, Coreshell says the combined L&F and Ferroglobe agreements create a battery supply chain that can be traced from raw material to finished cell, simplifying FEOC-compliance documentation. For EV and energy-storage manufacturers, the company says the same combination makes it easier to build batteries that meet evolving FEOC requirements.
What’s Next
Coreshell says battery supply chains will continue moving closer to home as FEOC requirements evolve, and the company plans to build on long-term supply agreements and domestic sourcing. The company said it will share more details on applications and programs using the Coreshell battery in the coming months.
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