Red Metals, a next-generation copper manufacturer, announced it has raised $10 million in seed funding and plans to invest $70 million in a new production facility in Charleston, South Carolina. The project is expected to create at least 45 jobs during its initial phase and will support the company’s mission of reshoring copper refining and finished copper product manufacturing to the United States.
The funding round was led by Gigascale Capital, with participation from Future Ventures, MCJ, and JB Straubel. Red Metals also secured economic incentives from South Carolina and Charleston County to support development of its first production facility.
Copper remains a critical material for sectors including electrical infrastructure, batteries, data centers, defense systems, and advanced manufacturing. According to the company, U.S. copper demand is expected to increase by more than one million metric tons annually through 2035, contributing to a domestic market valued at more than $45 billion. At the same time, domestic copper production capacity has declined, and the U.S. is projected to face a refined copper supply gap exceeding 2.5 million metric tons annually by 2035, even if all major announced mining projects become operational.
Red Metals believes the refining process represents one of the industry’s largest bottlenecks. Traditional copper refining requires material to move through multiple intermediate products, including concentrate, matte, anode, cathode, and rod. The company said this legacy approach consumes significant energy, time, and capital while often requiring materials to move across multiple facilities and countries before reaching a finished state suitable for industrial applications.
Founded by Jackson Switzer, the company has developed a proprietary refining process that integrates physical processing, advanced sorting, and metallurgical refining into a single continuous operation. The system is designed to convert copper feedstocks directly into finished products while eliminating many of the intermediate steps associated with conventional refining. Initially focused on domestic copper scrap, the process aims to make domestic copper refining commercially viable without subsidies while strengthening the U.S. manufacturing workforce.
Red Metals’ first commercial product will be high-conductivity copper rod, a key input used in wire, magnet wire, and other electrical applications. The company says its approach can reduce supply chain complexity, lower emissions, and shorten production timelines from months to days.
The new Charleston facility will serve as the company’s first production site and is expected to play a central role in supplying copper products for growing markets such as data centers, grid modernization, electrification, and defense applications.
KEY QUOTES:
“America has the feedstocks, the demand, and the workforce to produce copper domestically at scale. What it has lacked is an economically viable refining process. Red Metals is building an integrated, modern model that converts copper feedstocks directly into finished products closer to where they’re needed, reducing supply chain complexity while strengthening domestic manufacturing.”
Jackson Switzer, Founder And CEO, Red Metals
“Electricity and industry run on copper, and the U.S. has spent decades offshoring the refining and manufacturing capacity needed to produce it. Jackson has the rare combination of technical depth and operational pragmatism needed to rebuild that capability. What Red Metals is building is exactly the kind of industrial infrastructure America needs more of.”
JB Straubel, Founder And CEO, Redwood Materials
“The demand signal for domestically refined copper is undeniable, but the domestic infrastructure needed to support it barely exists today. Red Metals is the first company we’ve seen combining genuine process innovation with the execution capability required to rebuild it.”
Victoria Beasley, Partner, Gigascale Capital
