Breaking China's Graphite Monopoly.  Nico Cuevas, Founder, Urbix Resources

Graphite is a core component of lithium-ion batteries, accounting for up to 30% of the value of a battery cell. Today, Chinese companies utterly dominate refining, producing 93% of all processed graphite globally. America is now hell-bent building its own batteries and battery supply chains. Since 2021, American car makers and battery manufacturers have announced more than $60 billion in new battery plants across the United States. Still, the US is totally reliant on China for graphite. But that is changing fast. Meet Nico Cuevas, Founder, Urbix Resources, a Mesa Arizona startup specializing in clean and efficient graphite processing. Founded in 2014, Cuevas and his co-founders are racing to scale up innovative processing of graphite that they import from dozens of mines around the world, including from Brazil, Turkey and China. Will Urbix be able to compete with China, the graphite beast?