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Hyunsoo Rim6/25/25

QuantumScape has never made any revenue, but its stock is up 35% this morning after claiming to have hit major milestone

QuantumScape, a $2.4 billion market cap (as of last night) development-stage company working on solid-state battery tech for EVs, jumped 35% after the closing bell on Tuesday following the company’s announcement that it had reached a “major milestone” in scaling up production of its ceramic battery separators.

The separator is QuantumScape’s core product — and its new breakthrough integration is faster, more energy efficient, and takes up less space compared to earlier methods, the company said.

Founded in 2010 by a group of Stanford scientists, QuantumScape went public in 2020 after it had secured a $380 million investment from Volkswagen — still its largest shareholder — along with backing from Bill Gates and top venture firms. The company initially set out to make full lithium metal EV batteries that offer “greater energy density, longer life, faster charging, and greater safety” than conventional batteries. The plan sent shares soaring after its Nasdaq debut, giving the company a market cap of more than $47 billion at its December 2020 peak.

But as turning lab results into real-world production proved slower than expected — and many automakers delayed similar ambitions — QuantumScape shifted its focus. Last July, the company said it would stop making full batteries and focus instead on manufacturing the separator, while licensing its technologies to Volkswagen’s EV battery unit, PowerCo, which will handle battery production.

Despite Tuesday’s surge, the stock remains down 95% from its all-time high. The company has never made any revenue.

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A Truth Social post from President Trump threatening a “massive increase” on tariffs sent stocks into their steepest drop-off since April.

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Lilly Endowment unloads about $600 million in Eli Lilly stock during early October

The nonprofit still owns about 10% of the company, a stake now worth about $80.9 billion.

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Global automakers sink as Trump implies the trade war is heating back up

Shares of several major automakers with large footprints in China sank on Friday following President Trump’s threats to massively increase tariffs on goods from China in response to what he called “hostile” export controls.

Chinese EV titans like BYD, Nio, and XPeng plunged after Trump’s Truth Social post, along with automakers like Tesla and Stellantis that heavily rely on revenue from sales in the country.

EV makers like Rivian and Lucid, which source raw materials and or batteries from China, were also down following the post.

The move comes at a rocky time for US automakers, with the end of the EV tax credit expected to heavily ding sales for the rest of the year.

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Rare earth stocks spike after Trump says China should not be allowed to hold the world “captive” on rare earths

Shares of rare earth metal producers soared Friday after the president published a Truth Social statement decrying what he describes as Chinese efforts to control the pipeline of the sought-after minerals.

Companies such as MP Materials — which the US government recently took a stake in — USA Rare Earth, and Critical Metals jumped, suggesting investor bets that the the administration could play a bigger role in ensuring US access to rare earths.

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)

Companies such as MP Materials — which the US government recently took a stake in — USA Rare Earth, and Critical Metals jumped, suggesting investor bets that the the administration could play a bigger role in ensuring US access to rare earths.

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US stocks sink after Trump says he’s considering a “massive increase” of tariffs on Chinese imports

More tariffs might be back on the menu.

US stocks reversed lower after US President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that he is considering a “massive increase” on tariffs of Chinese imports.

Trump said he’s mulling higher levies as well as “many other countermeasures” because of “the hostile ‘order’ that they have just put out” restricting the export of rare earth metals. He also seemingly canceled his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea in two weeks, saying “now there seems to be no reason to do so.”

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF, Invesco QQQ Trust, and iShares Russell 2000 ETF all gave up early gains to fall more than 1%. A basket of stocks compiled by Goldman Sachs of US companies that have significant revenue exposure to China is off more than 2%.

Wafer fab equipment stocks Lam Research, Applied Materials, and KLA Corp, which all count China as their top market, are underperforming, as is iPhone seller Apple.

Chip stocks Advanced Micro Devices, Intel, Broadcom, and Nvidia are all getting hit on the news, as rare earths are needed components for semiconductor production. For Tesla, it’s a similar story given its footprint in China and the importance of rare earths for EVs.

There’s also a lot of plain old dumping of recent winners.

Super Micro Computer, Coinbase, and Robinhood Markets are among the biggest laggards since Trump’s post as investors cut risk.

(Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company subject to certain legal and regulatory restrictions.)

The rare earth curbs are far from the only recent example of China stepping up its defense of domestic industry and resources. Qualcomm is the subject of an antitrust investigation, stringent checks of semiconductor shipments are reportedly in place as officials look to keep Nvidia’s chips from entering the country, and separate reporting indicates that US ships will be charged an escalating fee for docking at Chinese ports.

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