Column: Trump 2.0 won’t reverse Biden’s critical minerals push
Donald Trump has described the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as a "green scam" and vowed to repeal it after he returns to the White House in January.
Graphjet Technology, developer of technologies to produce graphite from agricultural waste, has closed its previously announced merger with Energem (Nasdaq: ENCP, ENCPW), and on Friday, its ordinary shares started trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol GTI.
Graphjet’s warrants will also be delisted from the Nasdaq and begin trading on the OTC as GTIWW. The transaction, the company says, creates the only pure-play publicly traded direct biomass-to-graphite company, establishing Graphjet as the leading source of graphite and graphene for the US market.
Graphjet raised $5.8 million through the transaction, and it anticipates that additional fundraising will be necessary to accelerate its growth strategy and expand its manufacturing capacity.
Graphjet’s technology uses eco-sensitive methods in a circular solution using waste and its processes eliminate emissions and pollutions, it said. The company has a $30 million offtake agreement with Toyoda Gosei and has accelerated the timeline for its planned manufacturing plant in Malaysia.
“We are thrilled to list Graphjet on the Nasdaq, particularly at this crucial moment of critical material demand and limited availability for the US market,” CEO Aiden Lee said in a press release.
“With China dominating more than 97% of all graphite production, we look forward to becoming the leading supplier to the US market to support its burgeoning battery storage and EV industries,” Lee said.
“Our patented technologies are capable of producing graphite and graphene directly from agricultural waste, which fills a critical supply need for these highly strategic materials, as demand is expected to continue to accelerate over the next several years.”
Graphjet said its commercial and patented vertically integrated technologies and process cuts the carbon footprint by 83% while reducing costs by 80%.
Graphjet’s stock advanced on the Nasdaq on Friday during a generally down day in the US market, affording the company a $1.76 billion market capitalization.
