Amprius rethinking whether to build battery plant in Brighton

BRIGHTON — Hopes that a Silicon Valley-based battery producer would bring more than 300 jobs to Brighton seem to have been put on hold indefinitely.

The Brighton City Council last May extended for another year the incentives it had offered to Fremont, California-based Amprius Technologies Inc. (NYSE: AMPX) to open its first commercial-scale battery production site in a former Kmart distribution center at 18875 E. Bromley Lane. The design was completed last fall, and the plan was to have manufacture of lithium-ion batteries to begin there this June. Those products would be used in electric vehicles, drones, and by the aerospace industry.

However, in its fourth-quarter 2024 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which was released last week, Amprius wrote that it was “currently monitoring the larger industry dynamics. Changes in demand, supply, battery cost structure, government incentives, trade tariffs and other considerations may also influence our decision, including whether to proceed with the construction at all.”

During the company’s earnings call with investors last Thursday, Amprius chief financial officer Sandra Wallach said that “our fourth-quarter operating cash results included minimal nonrecurring expenses for the design and preconstruction work on the Colorado facility, which was completed in October of 2024. At this time, we do not expect future expenses related to the facility build-out.” She also noted that the costs of preconstruction planning had affected the company’s gross margins, adding that “we also had $4.2 million of cash inflow associated with the return of our deposits for long-lead time items related to the Colorado facility.”

Amprius announced in May 2023 that it would build the facility in 775,000 square feet of the 1.3 million-square-foot Mile High Logistics Center in Brighton, which had been built to serve as the Kmart warehouse. The move, it said then, would be six times its 50-person workforce in Fremont.

Fueling its plan was offers of incentives that it received from the city of Brighton, Adams County and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. Brghton’s City Council agreed to rebate the company half of the use tax that otherwise would be collected in the redevelopment of an existing building. Use tax on the estimated $54 million project would total about $1.01 million. Half that amount, and the maximum under the deal, would be a rebate of $506,250. In addition, the city would commit to refund 100% of the property tax it would otherwise collect on the facility. In total, rebates of the two taxes would total about $929,500.

OEDIT previously committed up to $5.9 million in job-growth tax credits for the company, which pledged to add up to 332 jobs in Brighton at an average pay of $69,458.

If the project is officially scrubbed, Amprius would receive none of that money.

Amprius narrowly avoided having its stock delisted from the Nasdaq exchange in November because of its low share price. The company recorded a net loss of $44.7 million in 2024, up from $36.8 million in 2023, according to its latest SEC filing, and its majority shareholder, Amprius Holdings, “voluntarily liquidated and dissolved.” distributing the shares from its 58.6% ownership. 

Kang Sun, Amprius’ president, CEO and director, noted in Thursday’s earnings call that uncertainty is also playing a role in its current decisions.

“We have obviously been monitoring the policy challenges and potential industry headwinds resulting from the recent changes in federal administration,” he said. “With much of the global battery supply in Asia, we are immune to economic policy impacting the region. But we are taking strict actions to mitigate any risks to the extent that we are able, including diversifying our manufacturing partnerships and the supply chains to avoid geopolitics, geopolitical concerns and the tariff-related issues.”

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