The US Department of Energy has announced a $17 million investment in 14 projects across 11 states aimed at enhancing America's energy security and supply chain. These projects will focus on manufacturing critical components such as hydrogen fuel cells, magnets, lithium-ion batteries, and power electronics. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm highlighted the importance of reducing reliance on foreign supply chains and utilizing domestic sources for critical materials. The projects, coordinated through the Critical Materials Collaborative, aim to improve communication and coordination among stakeholders in critical materials projects. Small-scale demonstrations will focus on materials like lithium, nickel, cobalt, rare earth elements, and more, to accelerate their commercial readiness. Selected projects include initiatives to reduce critical materials content in magnets, improve unit operations for critical materials processing, recover materials from scrap products, and reduce critical material demand for clean energy technologies. This investment is part of an industrial strategy to boost America's manufacturing competitiveness and deliver economic benefits to communities nationwide.