It will give the Norwegian company a loan of up to $670 million to help build its graphite factory in St. Thomas, Ont. (The Logic)

Talking point: It’s an upsized deal from the initial investment of over $2 billion that Vianode announced late last month. The company, which makes a key ingredient for lithium-ion batteries, is building its first North American plant in Canada at a time when tariffs and weak demand are weighing on the electric vehicle industry. Vianode has an existing deal with General Motors and its factory will be near Volkswagen’s battery plant, but the company said its synthetic graphite can also be used for semiconductors, grid storage, nuclear reactors, defence systems and steel production. The factory also has a letter of interest from the Canada Infrastructure Bank, up to US$500 million in potential financing from Export Development Canada, and a potential US$300-million export credit from the German government.