April 25th, 2025 — Palo Alto, California
The boardroom at Tesla Headquarters was unusually tense that morning. A large OLED display dominated the wall, showing a looping clip from CNN Philippines: rows of cranes rising over Subic Bay, the Philippine flag fluttering beside banners marked TG Mobility Holdings Co.
Across the bottom of the screen scrolled the caption:
TG Motors PH to produce LithiumX batteries — Southeast Asia's first gigafactory now under construction.
Elon Musk leaned back in his chair, eyes fixed on the display. "LithiumX," he said slowly. "That's the term they're using?"
Tesla's senior battery engineer, Raj Patel, nodded. "Yes, sir. From the reports, it's proprietary—some kind of next-generation lithium architecture. The supply chain references match ours—Panasonic automation, Albemarle for lithium hydroxide, POSCO for steel structures. But the chemistry isn't published anywhere. The press calls it 'LithiumX,' but there's no technical data."
