Schlumberger filed nine U.S. lithium patents in 2025. Exxon just produced its first battery-grade lithium. The oilfield is becoming the lithium field, and the patent docket has been telling the story since 2022.
Solar got cheaper than Kurzweil dared predict. Then AI broke the demand-side story.
CATL, the world’s largest battery maker, has 12 US patents on perovskite solar cell fabrication. The manufacturing DNA is nearly identical. A 48,000-paper field is about to meet the factory floor.