Piedmont's first steps toward securing lithium supplies will be in Quebec or Ghana.

CATL, whose clients include Tesla and Volkswagen, is the world's largest battery maker.

Treasury Secretary said the US should work on shifting dependence on some nations for supplies of critical inputs.

Tesla, now headquartered in Austin, Texas, has grown to about 100,000 employees globally, hiring rapidly as it built new factories in Austin and Berlin.

The US startup is building a closed-loop battery ecosystem aimed at lowering EV costs by lessening dependence on imported materials.

Li-Cycle is among a handful of companies looking to cash in on demand for the recovered materials, with companies including Tesla Inc. expressing concerns over supplies of nickel and lithium.

The European Raw Materials Fund is due to start with around $2 billion.