[U.S. Department of Energy Announces Loans to Two Electric Vehicle Chain Companies] On 22 February, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced that it has provided conditional loans of US$165.9 million and US$544 million to American Battery Solutions (ABS) and SK Siltron CSS, respectively, to support the expansion of the U.S.-based electric vehicle chain. The loans are intended to support the expansion of the U.S.-based electric vehicle chain. The $165.9 million loan will be used to support ABS's expansion in Ohio and Michigan, which will enable ABS to produce approximately 4.2 GWh of lithium-ion battery packs per year at full capacity by 2026 and create 460 high-paying operational jobs at the site. 544 million will be used to support SK's expansion of its Silicon Carbide automotive semiconductor wafer fab in Michigan, which will help to increase U.S. automotive semiconductor production capacity and reduce the number of automotive semiconductors produced. U.S. automotive-grade semiconductor production capacity, mitigating current industry risks and creating 200 high-paying local operating jobs and 200 temporary construction jobs. Both conditional loans were provided through LPO's ATVM (Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing) programme. SMM believes that the large-scale loan support once again demonstrates the federal government's determination to localise the EV industry chain.