About Featured Expert: Sila
Sila are global industry experts in silicon-anode materials, battery engineering and advanced battery-material manufacturing. The company develops and manufactures Titan Silicon, a nano-composite silicon anode material designed to replace graphite within lithium-ion batteries. It can be incorporated into established cell-manufacturing processes and adapted according to the energy, power, charging and cycle-life requirements of the finished battery.
Silicon can store more lithium than graphite, but its expansion and contraction during charging have historically created challenges involving electrode stability and battery life. Sila has addressed those issues through the chemistry and structure of Titan Silicon, which is engineered to manage volume change while retaining the mechanical and electrical characteristics required within the anode.
Although Titan Silicon is designed as a full graphite replacement, its use can be adjusted according to the cell design and application. The material is evaluated alongside the cathode chemistry, electrolyte, electrode loading, operating temperature and charging profile, as each of these variables can influence overall battery performance.
Sila’s wider battery-engineering capabilities therefore extend well beyond the anode material itself. The company works with cell manufacturers and equipment developers during formulation, cell development and qualification, allowing Titan Silicon to be configured around individual program performance requirements.
The technology first entered commercial use in 2021 through a battery developed for the WHOOP 4.0 fitness wearable. Titan Silicon has since been incorporated into additional consumer devices, giving Sila commercial manufacturing and operating experience beyond laboratory and prototype-scale battery-cell development.
The company is also advancing Titan Silicon for automotive battery programs. Sila has a supply agreement with Mercedes-Benz for an upcoming electric G-Class application. It also has a commercial agreement with Panasonic Energy for next-generation lithium-ion batteries. Those programs include continued material optimization and qualification within automotive cell designs and manufacturing processes.
Sila reports that current Titan Silicon configurations can provide approximately 20% greater energy density than comparable graphite-based anodes. The company has also demonstrated fast-charging and cycle-life performance across selected cell designs, with final results remaining dependent upon the complete battery chemistry, construction and test conditions. This development work is now supported by a growing U.S. manufacturing base. Sila’s Alameda, California, headquarters houses its materials research, battery engineering and product-development operations, while its Moses Lake, Washington, facility has been established for the automotive-scale production of Titan Silicon.
Operations began at Moses Lake in 2025. Sila’s more than 600,000-square-foot facility occupies a 160-acre site and has been designed for phased expansion as customer programs move into larger-volume production. Initial operations support several gigawatt-hours of annual cell-equivalent capacity, with additional production planned through later development of the site. The Moses Lake operation is also connected to the domestic materials supply chain. Sila has secured a long-term agreement for U.S.-produced silane, a primary input used in Titan Silicon manufacturing. This provides the company with an established domestic source of high-purity silicon feedstock for its Washington production operations.
Sila’s capabilities span material chemistry, anode engineering, cell integration, customer qualification, raw-material sourcing and commercial-scale production. Together, these elements support the use of silicon-anode technology across battery applications where energy density, available space, charging performance and weight are important design considerations. Typical applications for Sila technologies include electric vehicles, electric mobility, consumer electronics, unmanned aerial systems, aviation, robotics, data-center power systems and defense equipment.
Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Alameda, California, Sila operates battery-material research and engineering facilities in California and its automotive-scale Titan Silicon manufacturing plant in Moses Lake, Washington. To learn more about Sila and its silicon-anode technologies, please click here.
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Molly Bakewell Chamberlin is the Founder, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Components Source Network, a 100% woman- and disability-owned B2B publishing and expert marketplace platform serving the global high-tech manufacturing and engineering community. She is the architect, author and developer of the Network’s 11 specialized e-news sites and 11 peer-vetted expert e-marketplaces, including EV + Battery Tech Monthly. With more than 25 years of experience in strategic technical marketing, public relations and business development, she is also the Founder and President of Embassy Global, LLC, which has supported more than 200 high-tech industry brands worldwide since 2008. Molly also serves pro bono as Second Vice Chair of the Government Team for the WBENC Forum and is a long-standing advocate for small business, supplier diversity, sustainability and women in STEM. Connect with Molly on LinkedIn.
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