High-tech battery manufacturing facility to expand in Fremont

FREMONT, Calif. (KGO) -- Some of the world's most powerful batteries are made right here in the Bay Area.

Thursday, the company that produces them unveiled a major expansion.

"Our battery has the highest energy density and the power density in the industry," said Amprius CEO Kang Sun.

The battery, a silicone anode lithium ion cell, is made by Amprius.

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It's helping to power breakthroughs in aviation technology like drones, air taxis, and solar cars.

It's also powering some critical military technology and has plans to power products in the EV markets.

The company said it has so many customers that it has a backlog.

Now, the Fremont facility where the batteries are made is seeing a major expansion.

"It a very important milestone for our business, we'll expand our production capacity actually 10 times," Sun said.

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The company's growth is equally important to the city of Fremont.

Mayor Lily Mei says the expansion spotlights Fremont's efforts to become a hub for advances in innovation.

"Fremont is proud to be home to the most manufacturing advanced manufacturing jobs in California" Mei said, "We partner with a lot of different organizations to ensure that and what we see here is that this is just critical to our hub and logistics to be able to deliver the new innovation and products."

Something Mei said can have ripple effects not just in the Bay Area but nationally.

"Hopefully we have cities working with counties," she said, "Regional and federal levels are able to implement these things that bring manufacturing back to the United States."

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