GrafTech International Ltd. (NYSE:EAF) ("GrafTech") and Antora Energy ("Antora") today announced a strategic collaboration to develop and supply carbon-based materials for Antora's thermal batteries, strengthening the domestic manufacturing base for American energy technology.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260910813271/en/

GrafTech and Antora Energy Partner to Power American Industry with Carbon

Antora's thermal batteries store energy using carbon—the same material that has been produced in St. Marys, Pennsylvania for generations. Together, Antora and GrafTech will develop carbon-based materials at GrafTech’s St. Marys facility for use in Antora's battery modules, which help lower energy costs and make American factories more competitive.

The collaboration is already creating jobs in St. Marys, where GrafTech has restarted eight bake furnaces. Antora and GrafTech have hired new workers in St. Marys and are hiring a dozen more across plant operations, machining, maintenance, and a range of additional functions.

"St. Marys has been an important part of GrafTech’s manufacturing footprint since we acquired the facility in 2010, and we are proud to partner with Antora to leverage the facility and our nearly 140 years of experience in carbon and synthetic graphite-based solutions," said Timothy Flanagan, Chief Executive Officer and President, GrafTech International Ltd. "This partnership is expected to utilize a significant portion of the bake furnace capacity at St. Marys, creating an important new application for the facility while diversifying our end markets and supporting the growth of the domestic energy storage supply chain. We are particularly pleased that this opportunity builds on the skills and experience of the St. Marys workforce, and we look forward to growing our commercial relationship with Antora."

"By partnering with GrafTech to source carbon-based materials from their St. Marys facility, Antora is strengthening our domestic supply chain," said Andrew Ponec, Co-Founder and CEO, Antora Energy. "GrafTech is a leading Pennsylvania manufacturer, and we’re excited to work with them to deliver affordable and reliable energy across the country. This is an investment in America’s energy leadership."

Antora’s thermal batteries store low-cost electricity as heat in insulated blocks of solid carbon. This heat is then delivered around-the-clock as heat or electricity. The same factory-built modules can serve a chemical plant, a food producer, a steelmaker, a data center, or the grid, without supply-constrained critical minerals or multi-year construction timelines.

Carbon has been made in the United States for centuries, and is today widely used across steelmaking, aluminum production, and fireproofing applications. The carbon blocks and insulation in Antora’s thermal batteries are made by heating lower-purity carbon feedstocks—such as petroleum coke and coal tar pitch—in high-temperature furnaces. As the industry scales, thermal energy storage has the potential to create major new markets for U.S. petroleum and coal byproducts.

"This partnership builds upon the skilled workforce, infrastructure, and industrial experience that has made Pennsylvania a leader in our country’s energy future," said Rep. Glenn "GT" Thompson (PA-15). "GrafTech and Antora are creating good jobs in the commonwealth while helping build a domestic supply chain that supports American manufacturing and energy security. I’m proud to see this investment made in Elk County."

This partnership comes on the heels of Antora’s oversubscribed $550 million Series C in late July of this year. In May, Antora announced the commissioning of Project Big Stone, one of the largest battery storage systems in the world. The project is already delivering affordable, round-the-clock energy to POET, the world’s largest producer of biofuels, at their Big Stone City, South Dakota facility.

A Memorandum of Understanding is in place, and the parties intend to negotiate and execute definitive documentation regarding the strategic collaboration. The final agreements remain subject to negotiated terms and conditions.

About Antora Energy

Antora Energy delivers affordable, reliable energy to industry, data centers, and the grid. Antora’s thermal batteries turn low-cost electricity into always-on heat and power, without supply-constrained critical minerals or multi-year construction timelines. Antora is committed to strengthening American manufacturing, and its San Jose, California factory ranks among the country’s largest battery gigafactories. To learn more about Antora Energy, visit www.antora.com and follow the company on LinkedIn.

About GrafTech International

GrafTech International Ltd. is a leading global manufacturer of high-quality graphite electrode products essential to the production of electric arc furnace steel and other ferrous and non-ferrous metals. With 140 years of experience in carbon science and manufacturing, GrafTech operates a competitive portfolio of large-scale, low-cost, ultra-high power graphite electrode facilities and is the only major graphite electrode producer vertically integrated into petroleum needle coke, its key raw material. This unique position provides important advantages in product quality, supply reliability, and cost competitiveness. Building on its core graphite electrode and needle coke capabilities, GrafTech also has deep experience in research and development, engineering and processing of specialized carbon and graphite materials supporting selected applications in industrial manufacturing, energy storage, anode materials, defense, and other emerging technologies.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements – GrafTech International

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to, among other things, financial projections, plans and objectives of management for future operations, future economic performance and short-term and long-term liquidity. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding the number of jobs created by the announced strategic collaboration, the expected utilization of bake furnace capacity at St. Marys as a result of the announced strategic collaboration, the expected diversification of our end markets as a result of the announced strategic collaboration, and the negotiation and execution of final definitive documentation regarding the announced strategic collaboration. You can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking words such as "will," "may," "plan," "estimate," "project," "believe," "anticipate," "expect," "foresee," "intend," "should," "would," "could," "target," "goal," "continue to," "positioned to," "are confident," or the negative versions of those words or other comparable words. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon our historical performance and on our current plans, estimates and expectations considering information currently available to us. The inclusion of this forward-looking information should not be regarded as a representation by us that the future plans, estimates, or expectations contemplated by us will be achieved. Our expectations and targets are not predictions of actual performance and historically our performance has deviated, often significantly, from our expectations and targets. These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, financial results, financial condition, business, prospects, growth strategy and liquidity. Accordingly, there are or will be important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those indicated in these statements. We believe that these factors include, but are not limited to: changes in thermal energy storage market conditions, demand for thermal energy storage, the outcome of negotiations regarding the definitive strategic collaboration documentation, compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements, and other factors described in the GrafTech’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. GrafTech undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required by law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260910813271/en/

FGS Global on behalf of Antora Energy

antora@fgsglobal.com