Producer
Albemarle Corporation
Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB; HQ Charlotte, NC; ~$6B revenue 2023) is one of the world's largest lithium producers and the leading US-headquartered lithium hydroxide supplier. Albemarle produces battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LiOH·H2O) at three primary locations: (1) La Negra complex, Antofagasta, Chile — converting Atacama brine-derived lithium chloride to LiOH; (2) Kemerton Lithium Hydroxide Plant, Western Australia — a JV with Mineral Resources Ltd (MRL) that converts spodumene from Greenbushes Mine to LiOH; Train 1 (50,000 t/year) commissioned 2022, Train 2 (50,000 t/year) commissioned 2023. (3) Kings Mountain, North Carolina — historically the world's largest lithium mine (operated 1953-1988), being restarted with US DOE/DOD support for domestic LiOH production. Albemarle is the preferred LiOH supplier for Tesla (NCA cathodes), BMW i-series, and multiple US and Asian battery makers requiring high-nickel chemistry. The 2023-2024 LiOH price collapse compressed Albemarle margins substantially; ALB stock fell ~75% from its 2022 peak.
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Inputs supplied
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Goods downstream
6
Facilities
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Stories
What they make
4 inputs Albemarle Corporation supplies
Click an input to see every good that depends on it, every country that produces it, and every other company in the supply chain.
chemical
TBBPA (Tetrabromobisphenol A) Flame Retardant →
mineral
Lithium carbonate / lithium hydroxide →
chemical
Lithium Hydroxide (Battery Grade) →
mineral
Lithium Carbonate →
Where it shows up
Goods downstream
Essential goods that depend on something Albemarle Corporation makes, pick one to see the full supply chain.
Where they make it
6 facilities
Albemarle Atacama Lithium Operations (Chile) →
CLAntofagasta Region · mining
Albemarle's Chilean brine operation adjacent to SQM's Atacama concession; Albemarle operates under a separate Corfo concession for Atacama brine extraction with a lower concession volume than SQM. Albemarle processes concentrate at a nearby La Negra chemical plant complex outside Antofagasta. La Negra I and La Negra II units produce lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide for export to Asia and North America. Albemarle's Atacama operations are subject to the same Chilean National Lithium Strategy framework requiring eventual Codelco involvement. Source: Albemarle Annual Report 2023.
Albemarle Kemerton Lithium Hydroxide Plant →
AUWestern Australia · manufacturing
Battery-grade LiOH conversion plant near Bunbury, WA; processes Greenbushes spodumene. Train 1 operational 2023.
Albemarle Kings Mountain Lithium Project (North Carolina, USA) →
USCleveland County, North Carolina · mining
Albemarle Kings Mountain Lithium Project; Kings Mountain, Cleveland County, NC. Historically the world's largest lithium mine (operated 1953-1988 by Foote Mineral / Cyprus Foote; produced lithium ore for glass, ceramics, and industrial uses). Albemarle is restarting the site as a spodumene mine to feed a planned domestic US LiOH plant — the only major attempt to create large-scale domestic US lithium hydroxide production from US ore. US DOE Loan Programs Office awarded Albemarle a $149.7M conditional loan in September 2023 (DOE LPO) for the Kings Mountain restart and associated processing. DOD Defense Production Act Title III funding also contributed. Target: mine spodumene ore and convert to battery-grade LiOH domestically — producing IRA-FEOC-compliant material (US-origin, US-processed). Commercial production timeline: first ore production targeted ~2026-2028; LiOH plant still in planning/permitting. This is the ONLY large-scale US domestic LiOH production attempt in the modern era. Source: DOE LPO press release September 2023; Albemarle corporate.
Albemarle La Negra Lithium Conversion Plant →
CLAntofagasta · manufacturing
World's largest single-site lithium carbonate and hydroxide conversion plant; processes Atacama brine. ~85,000 t LiOH/yr capacity under expansion.
Albemarle Silver Peak Lithium Brine Operation (Nevada, USA) →
USEsmeralda County, Nevada · mining
The only operating lithium mine in the continental United States; Clayton Valley, Esmeralda County, Nevada. Albemarle pumps lithium brine from non-potable aquifers 300-2,000 feet below the surface through a wellfield producing up to 17.86 million gallons/day. Solar evaporation concentrates the brine over 12-18 months; final product is dried to lithium carbonate powder. Production: ~5,000-7,500 metric tons/year of lithium carbonate — a tiny fraction of global supply. Site has operated since 1966 (longest continuously operating lithium brine mine in the world). BLM approved an expansion permit in 2023. Qualifies for IRA domestic content requirements. Source: Albemarle corporate; Nevada BLM permit; USGS.
Kemerton Lithium Hydroxide Plant (Western Australia) →
AUSouthwest Western Australia · processing
Kemerton Lithium Hydroxide Plant; Albemarle 60% / Mineral Resources Ltd 40% JV; Kemerton Strategic Industrial Area, Western Australia (~175km south of Perth). Train 1 (50,000 t/year LiOH·H2O) commissioned late 2022; Train 2 (50,000 t/year) commissioned 2023; total nameplate capacity 100,000 t/year — one of the world's largest LiOH plants. Spodumene feedstock sourced from Greenbushes Mine (~130km north). Converts via roast-leach process: spodumene calcined at ~1050°C (alpha→beta phase transformation), leached with H2SO4, purified, and crystallized to LiOH·H2O. Battery-grade product >56.5% LiOH. Kemerton is a critical node in Albemarle's strategy to produce IRA-eligible LiOH (Australian production for US FTA-country qualification). Source: Albemarle Annual Report 2023; Mineral Resources ASX disclosures.
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map, where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Lithium (Battery Grade LiOH + Li2CO3)
60%Bromine Specialties
25%Catalysts (Petroleum Refining)
15%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains, chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Origin2023
Albemarle Corporation was formed in 1994 from the specialty chemicals division of Ethyl Corporation — a company with one of the most environmentally significant corporate histories in American industrial chemistry. Ethyl Corporation was created in 1924 as a joint venture between Standard Oil (New Jersey) and General Motors to market tetraethyl lead (TEL) — the gasoline antiknock additive invented by Thomas Midgley Jr. TEL raised gasoline octane to enable higher-compression engines but caused massive global environmental lead contamination across 60+ years of use. The US phaseout of leaded gasoline was completed in 1996. Ethyl Corporation's specialty chemicals business (not the TEL operations) was spun off as Albemarle in 1994. The company that emerged from the leaded gasoline company is now the world's largest US-headquartered lithium hydroxide supplier — providing the critical battery material for EV adoption that is replacing the internal combustion gasoline engines that Ethyl's TEL additive once served. The corporate lineage runs: Ethyl Corporation (put lead in gasoline) → Albemarle (supplies lithium hydroxide for EV batteries that replace gasoline vehicles). Thomas Midgley Jr., the inventor of TEL, also invented CFCs/Freons — considered by some environmental historians to have done more damage to the Earth's atmosphere and ecosystems than any individual in history.
Albemarle Corporation ↗Did you know2023
Albemarle serves three supply chains from chemically unrelated product families: (1) Lithium hydroxide for EV batteries — the clean energy transition supply chain; Tesla, BMW, and other EV makers need battery-grade LiOH for high-nickel NMC/NCA cathodes; Albemarle's Chile and Australia operations supply ~18-20% of global battery-grade LiOH; (2) TBBPA bromine flame retardant for printed circuit boards — every PCB in every electronic device contains TBBPA or an equivalent bromine flame retardant to prevent combustion; Albemarle's ~25% global TBBPA market share embeds it in the electronics manufacturing supply chain; (3) Lanthanum FCC catalysts for petroleum refining — same rare-earth-containing catalysts affected by China's April 2025 rare earth export controls also come from Albemarle's catalyst business. The same Charlotte NC company simultaneously supplies the EV battery transition (lithium), the electronics industry (flame retardants), and the petroleum refining industry (FCC catalysts) — three sectors with diametrically different climate policy positions. Albemarle supplies enablers for electrification AND for the fossil fuel refining it is meant to replace.
Albemarle Corporation ↗Incident2023
Albemarle Corporation (Charlotte, NC; NYSE: ALB) — the world's largest lithium producer by revenue — announced in October 2023 and expanded in 2024 a series of cost-cutting measures in response to the 75%+ collapse in lithium prices: (1) laid off approximately 6-7% of its global workforce (~300-400 employees); (2) paused or cancelled multiple capital projects including its Richburg, SC battery-grade lithium carbonate facility; (3) delayed the Meishan, China LiOH plant expansion; (4) deferred the Kings Mountain NC restart timeline. Albemarle's stock (ALB) fell from ~$291 in January 2023 to ~$75 in January 2025 — a 74% decline. The company's net income swung from +$2.7B in 2022 to -$1.2B in 2024. The lithium price collapse demonstrated a structural vulnerability: Albemarle — the company the US government is explicitly relying on for domestic lithium supply via DOE LPO loans and DOD DPA Title III funding — is simultaneously cutting the investments that would create domestic supply security because market prices make those investments uneconomical. The incentive structure for private capital to build domestic supply chains is at direct odds with the market dynamics created by Chinese oversupply. Source: Albemarle press releases 2023-2024; Bloomberg; Reuters.
Albemarle Corporation ↗