Alphabet‘s Google will build its first data center in Minnesota and deploy a significant amount of new renewable energy in the state under an agreement with utility Xcel, the companies announced Tuesday.

The data center will be located on a 480-acre site at Pine Island, a town of about 4,000 people some 70 miles southeast of Minneapolis. Google had not publicly disclosed its role in the project previously. The facility will be used for artificial intelligence applications as well as Google’s broader cloud business.

The proposed data center at Pine Island has faced community opposition but is supported by the city council. It has not begun construction yet. Data centers are facing political blowback in communities across the U.S. more often as people blame them for rising electricity prices in some regions and worry about their environmental impact. Data centers also consume a significant amount of water for cooling.

Google declined to disclose how much electricity the data center will consume. The tech company said it will pay for any electric grid infrastructure needed for the project. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission still must review the agreement between Google and Xcel.

“What Google is doing is ensuring that when we show up, we aren’t putting additional costs on other ratepayers,” Amanda Peterson Corio, head of data center energy at Google, told CNBC in an interview. “We will pay 100% of our energy and electricity costs, and we will make sure that new additional capacity is put on to the grid to be able to serve our needs.”

Additional transmission infrastructure is needed for the Pine Island data center, said Bria Shea, president of Xcel for Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. Google will pay for any new transmission associated with the project even if the data center does not materialize for some reason, Corio said.

Google will deploy 1,400 megawatts of wind power, 200 megawatts of solar and 300 megawatts of battery storage to the grid under the agreement with Xcel. The renewable projects will be owned by the utility. They are expected to come online in 2028 and 2029, Shea said.

Google will also pay a premium for the renewable power under a tariff designed to insulate consumers from the infrastructure costs while accelerating the deployment of clean energy in Minnesota, according to the tech company.

The town’s residents have formed a group called “Stop the Pine Island Data Center.” The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy filed a lawsuit in October challenging the environmental review of the project.

Pine Island’s city council approved two preliminary development plans for the data center in December, according to local broadcaster KTTC. It also approved financial incentives that include a $36 million tax abatement in February, according to the outlet.

City Administrator Elizabeth Howard said Pine Island would collect more than $130 million in tax revenue from the project, according to KTTC.

Minnesota has not been a major data center market in the past but the big tech companies are increasingly eyeing the state. There are currently 74 data centers in Minnesota. Virginia, the largest market worldwide, has 570 such facilities, according to the Data Center Map.

Correction: This article has been updated to correct the name of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.

South Korea-based LG Energy Solution announced Wednesday that it had signed a $4.3 billion contract for supplying batteries to a major corporation, without naming the customer.

The effective date of contract — receipt of orders — was Tuesday and it will conclude at the end of July, 2030. During this period, the counterparty will not be disclosed to maintain business confidentiality, the company’s filing with the Korea Exchange showed Wednesday. Reuters reported that Tesla was the counterparty.

Earlier this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed that the EV maker was behind a previously undisclosed $16.5 billion chip contract with South Korea’s Samsung Electronics. 

LG Energy said in its filing that details of the agreement such as the deal amount were subject to change and the contract period could be extended by up to seven years. 

The value of the disclosed contract eclipses the company’s 5.6 trillion Korean won ($4.05 billion) revenue for the second quarter of this year.

“Investors are advised to carefully consider the possibility of changes or termination of the contract when making investment decisions,” the company cautioned. It’s shares were trading 0.26% lower. 

The filing did not clarify whether the lithium iron phosphate batteries would be used in vehicles or energy storage systems. Its major battery customers include American electric-vehicle makers Tesla and General Motors.

The company has been expanding its manufacturing in the U.S., with its first North American ESS battery manufacturing hub, located in Michigan, coming online in the second quarter of this year. The company is also constructing a plant in Arizona that will produce lithium iron phosphate batteries. 

LG Energy Solution and Tesla did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment. 

Honor on Wednesday touted the slimness and battery capacity of its newly launched thin foldable phone, as it lays down a fresh challenge to market leader Samsung.

The Honor Magic V5 goes will initially go on sale in China, but the Chinese tech firm will likely bring the device to international markets later this year.

The company, which spun off from Chinese tech giant Huawei in 2020, is looking to stand out from rivals with key features of the Magic V5, like artificial intelligence, battery and size.

Honor said the Magic V5 is 8.8 mm to 9mm when folded, depending on the color choice. The phone’s predecessor, the Magic V3 — Honor skipped the Magic V4 name — was 9.2 mm when folded. Honor said the Magic V5 weighs 217 grams to 222 grams, again, depending on the color model. The previous version was 226 grams.

In China, Honor will launch a special 1 terabyte storage size version of the Magic V5, which it says will have a battery capacity of more than 6000 milliampere-hour — among the highest for foldable phones.

Honor has tried hard to tout these features, as competition in foldables ramps up, even as these types of devices have a very small share of the overall smartphone market.

China’s CATL, the world’s largest supplier of EV batteries, announced a set of new incoming products Monday, including a battery it claims has set a “new global record for superfast charging technology.”

In a post on WeChat, the company — Contemporary Amperex Technology Company Ltd. — said that its second-generation Shenxing battery could add 520 km (323 miles) of driving range from just five minutes of charging time— only slightly longer than it takes to refuel gas cars.

This appears to put CATL’s fast charging ahead of that of Chinese EV giant and Tesla rival BYD, which last month surprised the industry with a charging system it claimed could add about 400 km in range to its batteries in about 5 minutes. 

Some analysts were skeptical about BYD’s claims, noting potential technical hurdles and high costs. However, if proved feasible on a larger scale, the tech could help the EV industry alleviate consumer concerns about electric vehicle range and convenience. 

CATL’s latest claims would also place its cutting-edge charging speeds comfortably ahead of those of its Western competitors. Tesla’s latest superchargers can add up to 270 kilometers of range in 15 minutes, while Mercedes-Benz Group recently said one of its batteries can recharge up to 325 kilometers within 10 minutes.

The new Shenxing product offers a range of 800 km and a peak charging power of 1.3 megawatts, CATL said. It added that the battery outperforms the industry’s highest current charging level in low-temperature environments of -10°C.

On Monday, CATL also revealed new batteries within its “Naxtra” series, which it said would be “the world’s first mass produced sodium-ion battery,” reducing the EV industry’s reliance on lithium. 

The use of sodium-ion batteries can help decrease maintenance costs and are capable of performing in extreme temperatures of -40°C to +70°C, according to the company.

One of the Naxtra batteries was specifically for heavy-duty trucks, offering over eight years of service life while providing reduced lifecycle costs and higher efficiency than traditional lead-acid batteries, CATL added.

Shenzhen-listed shares of CATL were trading up about 1% on Tuesday.

The company filed for a listing in Hong Kong earlier this year. According to a report from Reuters citing sources familiar with the matter, the deal is expected to raise at least $5 billion, which could make it Hong Kong’s largest IPO since early 2021. 

Struggling electric vehicle battery manufacturer Northvolt on Wednesday said it has filed for bankruptcy in Sweden.

The firm said it that it submitted the insolvency filing after an “exhaustive effort to explore all available means to secure a viable financial and operational future for the company.”

“Like many companies in the battery sector, Northvolt has experienced a series of compounding challenges in recent months that eroded its financial position, including rising capital costs, geopolitical instability, subsequent supply chain disruptions, and shifts in market demand,” Northvolt noted.

“Further to this backdrop, the company has faced significant internal challenges in its ramp-up of production, both in ways that were expected by engagement in what is a highly complex industry, and others which were unforeseen.”

Northvolt’s collapse into insolvency deals a major blow to Europe’s ambition to become self-sufficient and build out its own EV battery supply chain to catch up to China, which leads as the world’s largest market for electric vehicles by a wide margin.

The Swedish battery firm had been seeking financial support to continue its operations amid an ongoing Chapter 11 restructuring process in the United States, which it kicked off in November.

“Despite liquidity support from our lenders and key counterparties, the company was unable to secure the necessary financial conditions to continue in its current form,” Northvolt said Wednesday.

Northvolt said a Swedish court-appointed trustee will oversee the company’s bankruptcy process, including the sale of the business and its assets and settlement of outstanding obligations.