New facility will accelerate the scale-up of domestic gallium and other critical-mineral refining technologies while Found maintains a Boston presence for its energy projects
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Found Industries, an MIT spinout developing technologies to strengthen domestic critical-materials and energy production, this week announced the opening of its new headquarters and Found Metals Process Development Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Found Industries opens new Cambridge center to scale domestic critical-mineral refining.
The new facility expands Found’s capacity to transform laboratory discoveries into industrial processes that can operate continuously using real-world feedstocks. The company’s scientists, engineers and technicians will develop, build and test systems for recovering critical metals from existing industrial streams and produce qualified products for customers across the U.S. industrial base.
The opening was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring U.S. Department of Energy Associate Deputy Secretary Alex Fitzsimmons; Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll; MIT President Emeritus Rafael Reif; MIT Professor Elsa Olivetti, co-director of the MIT Mineral Stewardship Consortium; Massachusetts Undersecretary of Economic Development Zenobia Moochhala; and leaders from government, MIT, industry and the Greater Boston innovation community.
“The opening of this center marks Found’s transition from scientific breakthrough to industrial scale-up,” said Dr. Peter Godart, founding president and CEO of Found Industries. “Gallium and other critical metals already move through industrial streams in the United States, but we have yet to extract them at scale. This is fundamentally a processing and, more importantly, a technology bottleneck. Our goal is to unlock new domestic production using the infrastructure and resources already in front of us.”
Found began as Found Energy, based on research Godart initiated at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and continued during his doctoral work at MIT. The company’s original technology activates aluminum so that it can react with water to generate hydrogen and heat, creating a new use for an abundant and energy-dense material.
As Found developed and scaled its energy platform, the company encountered broader vulnerabilities across the supply chains for materials used in semiconductors, defense systems, energy infrastructure and advanced manufacturing. Found Metals was established to address those vulnerabilities through new processes that recover critical metals directly from industrial feedstocks, residues and byproducts. Found Metals’ process does not rely on any foreign-controlled materials or reagents, enabling a fully domestic pathway for recovering and refining critical materials from resources already present within U.S. industrial infrastructure.
Gallium is one of Found Metals’ initial priorities. The material is essential to advanced semiconductors, radar, communications, data centers, space-based solar systems and power electronics, yet the United States produces virtually none of the primary gallium it consumes. Found is developing processes to recover gallium from a variety of industrial process streams, with a technology pipeline that includes indium, germanium, antimony and other critical materials.
In May 2026, Found Industries and ARES Strategic Mining Inc. (CSE: ARS) (OTC: ARSMF) (FRA: N8I1) announced a memorandum of understanding to evaluate the recovery of gallium, germanium and other strategic critical materials from ARES-owned or controlled feedstocks associated with the Lost Sheep Mine in Utah. The companies are evaluating opportunities to apply Found Metals’ technology to feedstock assessment, process integration, piloting, scale-up and potential commercialization.
“Found Industries is a shining example of the technological innovation and growth that Massachusetts is known for,” said Lieutenant Governor Driscoll. “The company’s expansion in Cambridge represents exactly the type of growth we want in the Commonwealth, including advanced manufacturing, energy and critical technologies that can strengthen domestic supply chains, create good jobs and make the United States more competitive.”
The Process Development Center is designed to address one of the most difficult stages in industrial technology development: moving from a successful laboratory experiment to a reliable, continuously operating system. Work at the facility will include process integration, testing with representative industrial feedstocks, equipment development, product qualification and preparation for deployment with industrial partners.
“The United States and allied countries need more than new mines,” said Professor Olivetti. “We need to treat existing industrial waste streams, refining residues, scrap streams and byproducts as strategic mineral resources. Found’s strategy builds critical-minerals capacity around industrial partners that already have the feedstocks, sites, utilities, logistics and operations needed to move quickly.”
The U.S. Department of Energy is supporting Found’s domestic gallium work through the Technology for Recovery and Advanced Critical-material Extraction-Gallium, or TRACE-Ga, program. Found was selected to advance its Direct Feedstock Extraction technology, a continuous electrochemical process designed to recover gallium directly from dilute liquors without ion-exchange preconcentration or significant modification of the underlying mineral production circuits.
Found’s initial domestic gallium projects have also received support from the U.S. Department of Defense and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, alongside private investment. The company has received additional support through organizations including Activate, Elemental Impact and Innoventure Labs as it has progressed from scientific research to commercial development.
“Found Industries is exactly the kind of company that the country needs today,” said Reif. “It is a science-based innovation company translating research into technology that addresses major national challenges in industrial manufacturing and supply chains. The semiconductor and aluminum industries need the capabilities that Found is developing.”
“Found Industries is a bipartisan success story and a Department of Energy success story,” said Fitzsimmons. “Critical-mineral supply chains are essential to our economic growth, national security and long-term competitiveness. Scaling technologies from the laboratory to the marketplace requires federal, state and private-sector partners working together, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Found.”
While the Cambridge facility will serve as Found Industries’ headquarters and primary metals process-development hub, the company will maintain a presence in Boston supporting its energy projects. Found is advancing a broader pipeline of energy and critical-materials projects in the United States and internationally.
“This facility gives our team the tools to turn ambitious projects into functioning industrial systems,” Godart said. “Greater Boston has long been a world-leading center for scientific discovery. Our opportunity now is to connect those discoveries to manufacturing and industrial deployment, making this a region that not only invents the future, but builds it.”
About Found Industries
Found Industries develops technologies to restore critical-materials and energy production using abundant resources and existing industrial infrastructure. Found Energy develops systems that use activated aluminum to generate hydrogen and heat, while Found Metals develops processes to recover gallium and other critical materials from industrial streams. For more information, visit found-industries.com.
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SOURCE Found Industries
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