Forge Nano’s battery gigafactory breaks ground

The groundbreaking marks the first step toward a domestic battery gigafactory built to supply U.S. defense and aerospace customers

(Image courtesy of Forge Nano)

Forge Nano broke ground August 19 on an expansion of its Morrisville, North Carolina battery gigafactory, transforming the site into a campus approaching 315,000 square feet. The build is backed by up to $100 million in Department of Energy funding, scaling annual cell capacity toward 3 gigawatt-hours and adding more than 250 jobs. Samsung SDI is also now providing manufacturing support for the facility, having signed a conditional agreement to buy cells from the site starting in 2028.

A tier-one manufacturer backs an unbuilt battery gigafactory

The expansion converts Forge Nano’s existing 100,000-square-foot site into a campus approaching 315,000 square feet, with production targeted for 2028. Samsung SDI, one of the world’s largest battery cell manufacturers, is providing the manufacturing and operational expertise needed to get the facility running, and has agreed, conditionally, to buy cells from it once it opens. Forge Nano also becomes an authorized US distributor of Samsung SDI cells, while Samsung SDI has separately invested $20 million in Forge Nano’s Series D and PIPE financing rounds.

Samsung SDI’s Forge Nano agreement comes just days after it took full ownership of a paused GM battery plant in Indiana, redirecting that site toward energy storage rather than the EV cells it was built for. The two deals put Samsung SDI in very different positions within the same week. Indiana meant full ownership and a retreat from EV cell manufacturing. Morrisville, by contrast, is a conditional, lower-commitment role in a defense-focused build the company doesn’t own. Taken together, they suggest a manufacturer diversifying how it takes on US risk depending on the end market, rather than committing to one model across the board.

What the facility costs, and what it’s expected to produce

A July 2026 SEC filing tied to Forge Nano’s Nasdaq listing, Exhibit 99.1 to its Form 8-K, puts total investment in the expanded site at $300 million to $330 million, including the DOE award. Forge Nano frames that capacity in defense-relevant terms, citing roughly 150 million battery cells a year at full production, which the company says could support anywhere from 10 million to 20 million drone batteries annually, depending on product mix, or equivalents like 34,000 electric military vehicles and 6 million BB-2590 radio batteries. Those figures are Forge Nano’s own conversion estimates rather than confirmed order volumes, and no customer commitments at that scale have been disclosed.

The 2028 NDAA backdrop

Forge Nano notes that its 2028 production date lines up with new NDAA sourcing rules. Under Section 842 of the FY2026 NDAA, the Department of Defense will be barred from procuring advanced batteries sourced from a foreign entity of concern, a category covering China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, with the restriction phasing in from January 2028 for new acquisition programs through to 2029 for standard batteries and 2031 for existing programs. That alignment is useful context. Neither company’s announcement explicitly ranks it against the Samsung SDI partnership or DOE funding as the primary driver.

Between groundbreaking and production

Full production remains several years out, with equipment installation continuing through 2028 and Samsung SDI’s procurement agreement still conditional rather than finalized. That’s typical for a facility at groundbreaking stage rather than a sign the project is off track. Defense and aerospace buyers with sourcing needs ahead of 2028 will likely still be watching for interim options in the meantime. The two markers worth tracking from here are whether the Gigafactory hits its stated 3 GWh capacity on schedule, and whether Samsung SDI’s conditional agreement converts into a firm order as the deadline approaches.

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