Battery & Electrification Supply Chain: PlugVolt’s Battery Seminar 2026 returns in San Jose (July 14–16) with a three-day focus spanning battery science, electrified mobility, and North American supply chain buildout—now adding electrified aviation, drones, defense, robotics, and autonomous platforms. Corporate Battery Scale-Up: COnovate named battery veteran Craig Rigby CEO to accelerate commercialization and scale-up of its eCOphite anode materials, with founder Carol Hirschmugl shifting to chief technology officer. Semiconductor Power Hardware: Wolfspeed unveiled Gen 5 silicon-carbide MOSFETs aimed at improving efficiency and enabling more compact traction inverters for automotive and industrial systems. Grid Bottleneck Watch: Virginia Transformer’s planned Muscle Shoals plant (1,100 jobs) lands in a transformer supply crunch where lead times have stretched dramatically. Workforce Pressure: HVAC’s labor shortage is widening beyond technicians to instructor shortages, threatening training pipelines. Strategic Trade & Security: The Pentagon expanded its China-linked “military companies” list to include BYD, Alibaba, Baidu and others under NDAA Section 1260H. Connected-Vehicle Controls: Two lawmakers proposed blocking Chinese-connected vehicles entering via Canada/Mexico, citing data collection and remote access risks. Food Safety: CDC is investigating a multistate listeria outbreak tied to recalled Clover Hill Dairy soft ricotta/requesón. Critical Minerals: U.S. tungsten recyclers say Chinese buyers are outbidding them for scrap, driving a “secret war” over a strategic metal.