How Defense Spending Could Jump-Start Arkansas’ Lithium Industry

Written By Jane Madden

This Week: Momentum Builds Beyond EVs

  • Nano One CEO Dan Blondal says the U.S. defense industry — not fading EV tax credits — can help catalyze early battery-supply-chain growth.

  • Chevron confirms it will soon begin subsurface tests on 125,000 Smackover acres, joining the race to scale direct lithium extraction in the region.

Let’s dive in!

How One ALTA CEO Sees the Future of Lithium as EV Incentives Fade

While federal incentives for electric vehicle (EV) buyers in the U.S. are coming to an end, Dan Blondal, CEO of Nano One Materials and a member of the Arkansas Lithium Technology Accelerator’s first lithium innovation cohort, sees a broader and more resilient future for lithium — one that extends well beyond consumer car demand.

Blondal, whose Canadian firm is commercializing cleaner, domestic cathode manufacturing, isn’t sweating the politics around EV tax credits. He thinks global lithium demand will outpace supply for the next decade — regardless of what happens in Washington.

Blondal’s view underscores how players in the emerging lithium battery supply chain — especially those looking to invest or expand in the U.S. — are thinking past immediate political wins or losses and focusing on global tailwinds and diversified end markets.

How Defense Could Spark Battery Supply Chain Growth

As part of his comments during the kickoff Q&A, Blondal emphasized that defense spending, not just EV adoption, will be a crucial early catalyst for America’s battery manufacturing ambitions.

  • “We’re seeing defense spending up everywhere in the world right now, Blondal said. “Those aren’t massive volumes of batteries, but they are incredibly important to establishing ecosystems. The ecosystem has to start somewhere. It doesn’t start — you don’t go from zero to 100. You don’t build a battery plant that can feed an automotive plant because the volumes are huge.” 

  • “The defense community, be it here in the U.S or other places in the world, is really going to catalyze those supply chains, start them off, bring credibility to the product, and ultimately that will lead to offtaker purchase agreements that will lead to larger plants, more bankable projects, large projects with lots of construction jobs and ultimately lots of operational jobs as well. We’re very bullish on it.”

Between the lines: Defense and industrial users — not just automakers — are the entry point to stabilizing U.S.-based battery production, especially in regions like Arkansas that are trying to build an end-to-end lithium economy.

  • Don’t forget: Arkansas is home to a robust aerospace/defense industry, particularly in South Arkansas, home to companies including Aerojet Rocketdyne (L3Harris), General Dynamics and others.

Big picture: Arkansas’ lithium opportunity is not just in extraction, but in retaining value through domestic processing and manufacturing — something made more viable when federal defense and energy agencies become early customers.

What’s next: As lithium projects move from pilot to production, and federal support shifts from grants to procurement, the industry may hinge less on who buys the next EV — and more on how fast America builds a scalable, bankable battery ecosystem. And for that, defense might be the tip of the spear.

  • “If we can add value to that lithium here in Arkansas, we can keep it here and ultimately put it in batteries that are going to be made in the U.S. and ultimately will end up in data centers and electric vehicles — and … defense as well,” Blondal said. 

Previously: Venture Center’s ALTA Aims to Ignite Arkansas’ Battery Future

Report: Chevron’s Smackover Activity Coming Soon

The Chevron executive in charge of the energy giant’s carbon capture storage and lithium business told the Shreveport Bossier City Advocate that the company will begin activity soon in the Smackover Formation in Arkansas and northeast Texas.

Kristen Ghattas, who runs Chevron’s lithium unit, told the Advocate for a July 30 story that the lithium play is the first for the company, and that “You’ll start to see activity in the not-too-distant future.”

  • Chevron’s deal, announced June 17, marks the energy giant’s first step toward a commercial-scale U.S. lithium business.

  • “Establishing domestic and resilient lithium supply chains is essential not only to maintaining U.S. energy leadership but also to meeting the growing demand from customers,” Chevron New Energies President Jeff Gustavson said at the time.

Ghattas told the Advocate that Chevron brings the scale, longevity and capabilities to meet rising global demand for lithium — demand projected to soar 400% by 2040.

What’s Next

Ghattas outlined the company’s next steps in the formation:

  1. Subsurface testing: Chevron will map porosity, permeability and seismic data to pick drilling sites.

  2. Tech trials: Competing direct-lithium-extraction (DLE) technologies will be piloted before any billion-dollar plant decision.

  3. Phased scale-up: Full production hinges on market prices and technology performance.


“This is a great opportunity for us to develop a U.S.-based lithium supply chain,” Ghattas said, “and that’s something that doesn’t really exist today.”

More: Read the complete Advocate story.

Previously: Lithium Link on Chevron’s new acreage in the Smackover Formation.

Two More Speakers Announced for the 2025 Arkansas Lithium Innovation Summit

🗓 Oct. 28-29, 2025
📍 Statehouse Convention Center, Little Rock, Arkansas

Join innovators, industry leaders, researchers and policymakers as Arkansas builds America’s next energy hub. From direct lithium extraction to battery manufacturing, this is where the future of energy takes shape.

Newly confirmed speakers:

(Previously announced keynote speakers include Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Simon Moores, founder and CEO of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.)

Why attend?

✅ Learn from national experts
✅ Connect with startups, investors and global companies
✅ Explore opportunities in workforce, technology and infrastructure

🎟 Early-bird tickets are just $250 until Aug. 31 — space is limited!

Secure your spot now! GET TICKETS

Previously: A look at last year’s inaugural summit: Video | White paper

What We’re Reading, Watching

Here’s a quick sample of other lithium-related news we’re reading and watching:

  • Magnolia Reporter Editor Mike McNeill writes about the ALTA kickoff event and how he’s thinking about Arkansas’ lithium opportunities: “The worst thing that can happen with South Arkansas lithium is to load it onto trucks for shipment outside our region to be made in value-added products.” Read the article

  • Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Senior Editor Rex Nelson leans on last year’s Grist story about Lewisville (Lafayette County) and how residents there view the lithium promise: Read the article

  • Arkansas Business energy reporter Kyle Massey writes on Chevron’s Smackover deal: Read the article

  • Two Arkansas lithium players — Arkansas Commerce Secretary Hugh McDonald and Standard Lithium Ltd. COO Andy Robinson — are interviewed on the sidelines of this year’s Fastmarkets Lithium Supply and Battery Raw Materials Conference. Watch both interviews on YouTube: McDonald | Robinson

Jane Madden
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Venture Center’s ALTA Aims to Ignite Arkansas’ Battery Future