This growth is being driven by the rapid rise of battery use across grid-scale energy storage, defense applications, electric vehicles and consumer commodities. As demand builds but domestic refining capacity lags, markets are tightening, with deficits expected as early as 2026. Closing the gap is key to reducing reliance on foreign processing and building a more secure, reliable supply chain.
Demand Continues to Accelerate
Lithium demand grew at ~36% per year between 2016 and 2025, faster than almost any other industrial material with further expansion projected through 2030.
What Is Driving Demand
Lithium demand is being fueled by a combination of long-term trends: more batteries powering electric vehicles, increased deployment of energy storage to support the grid, and growing use across defense and industrial applications.
As energy systems evolve and electrification expands, lithium is becoming a core material across multiple parts of the economy, not just a single end market. For the U.S., this makes domestic refining more important than ever. Stardust Power is focused on helping meet that demand by building the infrastructure needed to process lithium at scale and support a stronger, more independent supply chain.
