Sila Raises $300M to Scale Battery Materials Factory Serving EVs and AI Data Centers
Battery startup Sila has raised $300 million to expand silicon-carbon anode production at its Washington facility, targeting electric vehicles and power-hungry AI data centers amid a global push for supply chain independence.
Battery materials developer Sila has raised $300 million in private funding to expand its Moses Lake manufacturing facility in Washington state. The round was led by Atreides Management and Sutter Hill Ventures, bringing total capital raised to $1.6 billion. The money goes toward scaling production of Sila's silicon-carbon anode material, a higher-density alternative to the graphite that powers most lithium-ion batteries today.
Founded by former Tesla engineer Gene Berdichevsky, Sila has spent 15 years developing the technology. Graphite anodes dominate the battery supply chain, but Chinese manufacturers control roughly three-quarters of that market. Sila's silicon-carbon material sidesteps that dependency while storing up to 40% more energy and enabling faster charging. The Moses Lake facility began initial operations in late 2025. With this new capital, capacity will grow from two gigawatt-hours to tens of gigawatt-hours per year, producing enough material to power more than 100,000 electric vehicles annually.
Electric vehicles remain a core end market, but the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure has added a second urgent demand signal. AI data centers draw enormous amounts of electricity to train models and run compute-intensive workloads. To manage peak demand charges, maintain uptime, and integrate intermittent solar and wind power, operators are deploying large-scale industrial battery storage systems. High-density materials like Sila's silicon-carbon anodes help keep those backup systems compact, durable, and cost-effective.
The round included participation from 8VC, Bessemer Venture Partners, Matrix Partners, and funds managed by T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. Sila already holds commercial supply agreements with Mercedes-Benz and Panasonic, and supplies battery materials to consumer electronics brands, satellite producers, and drone manufacturers. As electrification and AI computing push global energy demand higher, reducing dependence on Chinese battery inputs has become a strategic priority for Western technology companies.
The Africa Angle
For Africa, where grid reliability and compute infrastructure remain persistent constraints, the convergence of advanced battery chemistry and AI deployment has direct relevance. Data center operators in Lagos, Nairobi, Johannesburg, and Accra regularly contend with power interruptions and lean on diesel generators or hybrid microgrids to stay online. Higher-density battery storage creates a credible path toward replacing those fossil fuel backups while enabling solar-powered compute capacity across the continent. There is also a resource opportunity. African nations holding significant deposits of battery input minerals have a narrow but real window to attract local processing investment, capturing more of the value chain rather than exporting unrefined materials as global demand rises.
The regions that can store and deliver reliable power at scale will determine where the next generation of AI infrastructure actually gets built.
Source: TechCrunch
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