On August 5th, The African Development Bank Group has approved a €100 million loan to Gotion Power Morocco to finance an integrated cathode-to-cell lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery gigafactory in the Rabat-Salé Kénitra Free Trade Zone. AfDB plans to mobilize up to an additional €141 million from financial partners, acting as Mandated Lead Arranger under the New African Financial Architecture for Development (NAFAD). The project is led by Gotion High-Tech, a Hefei-headquartered, Shenzhen-listed battery manufacturer, and will mark the first integrated battery manufacturing plant in Africa and the MENA region. Phase 1 targets 10 GWh of battery cell and pack production for EVs, with capacity plans to scale up to 100 GWh. The facility is expected to create over 600 direct jobs and reach a 70% local industrial integration rate. AfDB's Kevin Kariuki called battery storage the missing link in Africa's clean energy transition, noting the renewable-powered facility will support large-scale solar and wind integration while building green industrial jobs. AfDB's Morocco country manager Achraf Tarsim said the gigafactory will strengthen Morocco's industrial competitiveness and support local beneficiation of critical minerals used in the energy transition. SMM View: The project signals growing downstream investment in Africa's battery value chain, moving beyond raw mineral extraction toward integrated cathode-to-cell manufacturing. As Morocco positions itself as a mobility and green-tech hub, this development adds to a broader continental trend of localizing value-add stages of the lithium supply chain a shift that could reshape where and how African critical minerals are processed in the years ahead

Samsung SDI said its US prismatic lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cell production line for energy storage systems (ESS) has entered mass production quality validation and is scheduled to begin production in October 2026, with customer deliveries starting before year-end. The company said ESS orders have already secured a substantial portion of its production capacity through 2029 and demand is expected to exceed capacity from 2028, prompting a review of additional capacity expansion. Samsung SDI has also established a Non-FEOC-compliant LFP supply chain to support the US ESS market.

The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has officially approved a €100 million (approximately $114 million) loan to Gotion Power Morocco, a subsidiary of Gotion High‑Tech, for the construction of the first lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery gigafactory in Africa and the MENA region. As the lead arranger under the “New Architecture for Financing Africa's Development” (NAFAD) initiative, the AfDB also plans to raise up to an additional €141 million from partner financial institutions to ensure sufficient project funding. The project is located in Phase III of the Kenitra Atlantic Free Zone, in the Rabat‑Salé‑Kenitra region of Morocco, and covers the full industrial chain from cathode material production, cell manufacturing, to battery pack assembly. Phase I is planned with an annual capacity of 10 GWh for EV battery cells and packs; with subsequent phased expansions, the total capacity is expected to gradually reach 100 GWh in the long term. Phase I is projected to directly create more than 600 high‑skilled jobs and raise Morocco's local industrial integration rate to 70%, significantly boosting the local supplier ecosystem and technical workforce development. AfDB Vice President Kevin Kariuki noted that battery energy storage is the “missing piece” in Africa's clean energy transition. The plant will primarily operate on renewable energy (wind and solar power), which will not only support large‑scale grid integration of new energy but also provide low‑carbon and reliable energy storage solutions. Leveraging Morocco's abundant phosphate resources and China's advanced battery refining and manufacturing technologies, the project will accelerate the local high‑value‑added conversion of critical minerals, shifting away from the traditional export of raw materials. It will help Morocco establish itself as a green mobility industrial hub serving both Europe and the entire African continent. This investment is highly aligned with the AfDB's four strategic pillars: resilient infrastructure development, accelerated industrialization, regional integration, and value addition to natural resources. It marks a milestone in the improvement of Africa's new energy industrial chain.

In 2026, as restored lithium iron phosphate (LFP) capacity expands from 150,000–160,000 tons to 170,000–180,000 tons, traditional hydrometallurgical LFP recycling companies are facing a wave of profit and competitive landscape reshaping driven by rivalry between different technological routes.

On July 28, the Yantai Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau formally approved the Environmental Impact Assessment for Wanhua Chemical (Penglai) Co., Ltd.'s 240,000-tonne-per-year iron phosphate project. The project, located on reserved land in Phase II of the Wanhua Penglai Industrial Park, involves a total investment of RMB 1.5 billion. It will build a 240,000 t/y iron phosphate production unit along with supporting auxiliary facilities and environmental protection systems. The batching section operates on an intermittent basis, with 2,000 batches per year (one batch every four hours), each producing 120 tonnes of iron phosphate. The project will help alleviate raw material supply pressures driven by Wanhua’s rapidly expanding lithium iron phosphate (LFP) capacity in Shandong—where the company is set to add 820,000 tonnes of LFP capacity in 2026 alone, making Yantai a key LFP production hub.

The Weifang Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau has recently published the public notice of the Environmental Impact Assessment acceptance for the "50,000 t/a Lithium Battery Material Recycling Project" of Weifang Chuanghai New Materials Co., Ltd. The project is located in the Changyi Longchi Chemical Industry Park, Weifang, Shandong, within the existing site of Haineng Chemical. It covers an area of 50 mu (approx. 3.3 hectares), and will be built after demolishing the existing hardware warehouse. New facilities including a production workshop, a comprehensive warehouse, a control room, and an electrical distribution room, totaling 9,000 square metres, will be constructed. The process involves acid leaching, filtration and impurity removal, iron phosphate synthesis, lithium precipitation and purification, and evaporation crystallisation of battery black mass, enabling comprehensive resource utilisation of spent lithium iron phosphate battery black mass. Upon completion, the project is expected to produce 8,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate, 10,000 tonnes of anhydrous iron phosphate, and 32,000 tonnes of dihydrate iron phosphate annually. The total investment is estimated at RMB 1.011 billion, with environmental protection investment of RMB 1 million, accounting for 0.1% of the total. The construction period is 6 months.