HOUSTON, October 28th (Argus) - Startup company American Advanced Materials (AAM) announced today that it plans to build an integrated sponge titanium production plant in the United States.
The company has completed a $12.5 million seed round of financing, led by Amity Ventures Venture Capital. The funds will be used to advance the engineering design of the manufacturing project and expand the team; the company plans to subsequently raise additional financing to build and operate a commercial-scale plant.
A spokesperson for AAM confirmed to Argus that the project site is considering both the expansion of the existing factory and the construction of a new plot. The initial planned production capacity is approximately 20,000 tons per year.
In addition to sponge titanium, AAM also plans to produce zirconium oxychloride (ZOC) as a complementary product.
The CEO of AAM, Alex Liegl, told Argus that there is a strong demand from the titanium processing plants in the United States and its allies for domestic sponge titanium. This startup company has signed purchase commitment letters for sponge titanium and zirconium oxychloride products, with a total value of over $1 billion in the intention orders.
Since the last sponge titanium producer in the United States, Timet, shut down the sponge titanium plant in Henderson, Nevada in 2020, there is currently no sponge titanium production capacity in the United States.
According to data from the US Department of Commerce, the US imported 37,699 tons of sponge titanium in 2025; as of August this year, the import was 20,792 tons.
Earlier this month, at the International Titanium Association (ITA) conference held in Las Vegas, Nevada, UK Titanium Magnesium Plant (UKTMP) and Toho Titanium warned industry participants at the conference that there is a risk of stable supply of sponge titanium in the aerospace field, including issues such as overcapacity in China and cost pressure.
