Forge Nano and Samsung SDI partner to build 3 GWh battery gigafactory in North Carolina

Forge Nano, a U.S.-based atomic layer deposition (ALD) equipment and advanced materials company, has announced a strategic partnership with Samsung SDI to construct a 3 GWh per year battery manufacturing facility in Morrisville, North Carolina. Under the deal, Samsung SDI will provide manufacturing expertise and supply-chain pricing to help build the gigafactory, and has signed a conditional procurement agreement to purchase battery cells from the facility starting in 2028. Forge Nano is investing $300–330 million, backed by a $100 million Department of Energy grant, and will produce both Samsung SDI cells and its own Atomic Armor branded cells at the site. Paul Lichty, CEO of Forge Nano, described the arrangement as a first-of-its-kind agreement that lets a U.S. battery technology company directly partner with a tier-1 Asian manufacturer to produce cells domestically.

This partnership is a concrete example of how defense-driven U.S. industrial policy is reshaping additive manufacturing and advanced materials supply chains. Forge Nano, which is also merging with Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners II for a NASDAQ listing, is targeting defense and critical infrastructure customers that require secure, domestic battery production. The deal mirrors a broader trend in additive manufacturing: technology companies are forming deep, production-level partnerships with established Asian manufacturers to accelerate scale while mitigating risk. Samsung SDI's role goes beyond customer - it becomes a co-developer and guarantor of operational throughput, a model that reduces the scaling failure risk that has plagued many U.S. battery and AM startups. Forge Nano's ALD technology for battery electrodes and semiconductor applications places it at the intersection of energy storage and advanced manufacturing, though the facility itself is production-class battery cell assembly, not a 3D printing operation.

Practically, this deal still depends on execution milestones: the gigafactory must reach 3 GWh throughput by 2028, and Forge Nano must pass Samsung SDI's qualification protocols for cell production. For the AM and advanced manufacturing sectors, the partnership is a template for how U.S. defense customers can access Asian-tier manufacturing without opening the supply chain to foreign control. The real test is whether Forge Nano can maintain the process discipline required for high-volume battery production, a challenge far removed from ALD tool development.