The World Bank is betting on this company to ‘green’ the $1.6 trillion steel industry — take a look inside
Boston Metal CEO, Tadeu Carneiro
Photo courtesy Boston Metal
In an indistinct office park in the suburban outskirts of Boston, a ten-year-old startup is trying to reinvent a process at the core of the $1.6 trillion steel industry to reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change.
Boston Metal was spun out of research developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2013 and has since raised a total of $250 million. The 120-person company is working on a green way to make steel, which is both the backbone of modern infrastructure construction and a significant contributor to climate change, generating between 7% and 9% of global carbon dioxide emissions, according to the World Steel Association.
Boston Metal has not started generating revenue and is still iterating on the final technology that it will use to make clean steel at scale.
But recently, it signed a $20 million funding deal with the private-sector investment arm of the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation.
It’s the first time the IFC has ever invested in a pre-revenue startup, which speaks to the value the World Bank sees in helping low-income nations make steel without carbon emissions, IFC Director William Sonneborn told CNBC.
“I am just here in Africa,” Sonneborn said in a video call from Senegal at the end of May. “There are hundreds of millions of people that don’t have a house. At some point, they’re going to need steel. And so the incremental steel production of the world is not going to be in the U.S. — the technology may have been invented at MIT, but the incremental steel production is not going to be in the U.S.”
The majority of crude steel, 59%, was manufactured in developing countries in 2021, according to the IFC. Boston Metal’s process will be particularly attractive in developing nations that also have access to clean electricity, such as Chile, Ethiopia, Malawi, Uruguay, and Zambia, the IFC says.
CNBC visited Boston Metal’s headquarters in Woburn, Mass., at the end of May to learn more about the startup that’s raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors like ArcelorMittal (the second-largest steel producer in the world), Microsoft‘s Climate Fund, and Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures in addition to the World Bank.
The Boston Metal offices in Woburn, Mass.
Cat Clifford, CNBC
How Boston Metal is cleaning up the historically dirty backbone of infrastructure
The conventional steel-making process puts iron ore or iron oxide in a coal-powered blast furnace, which generates significant carbon dioxide emissions. In a conventional steel mill, two tons of carbon dioxide are generated for every ton of steel that is made, explained Boston Metal executive Adam Rauwerdink during a tour of the lab.
Instead, Boston Metal uses an electro-chemical process called molten oxide electrolysis.
A diagram of the process Boston Metal is using to make green steel.
Graphic courtesy Boston Metal
The technique passes electricity through iron oxide mixed with a slew of other oxides, which are chemical compounds that contain at least one oxygen atom. If the electricity that goes into the process is clean, then the steel that comes out the other side of the electrolysis cell is clean, too.
The process resembles a battery, with a positively charged anode and negatively charged cathode directing the flow of electricity through the process.
For Boston Metal’s electrolysis to work, it has to convert the alternating current from the grid to direct current.
This is where the electricity is converted from AC to DC in the Boston Metal location. (A portion of the photo has been altered to protect the intellectual property of Boston Metal.)
Cat Clifford, CNBC
The anode in Boston Metal’s process was a key development from MIT. It’s primarily made of chrome and iron with some other small quantities of other materials mixed in, and does not get consumed or corroded during the electrolysis process.
“What’s special about it is it can survive at high temperature — 1,600 Celsius, 3,000 Fahrenheit. And as you’re doing electrolysis, you’re using electrons to split apart iron and oxygen. So that anode is getting hit by oxygen all day long at super high temperature, and it has to survive in that environment,” explained Rauwerdink during a tour of the lab. “There’s very few elements that will do that. That alloy is one that will.”
The byproduct of the process is oxygen.
The Boston Metal electrolysis process releases oxygen as a byproduct. On the screen circled, oxygen bubbles can be seen being released. (The text on the white board has been blurred out to protect the intellectual property of Boston Metal.)
Cat Clifford, CNBC
While Boston Metal is still iterating on the commercial-scale technology, the science behind the process is assured.
“It’s no longer a binary thing that you will fail or you will succeed,” Boston Metal CEO Tadeu Carneiro told CNBC in Woburn. “It’s a question of how long will be the life of the anode? Is it going to last three years or two years? That’s where we are now, we are finalizing all the parameters in order to build the biggest, the largest industrial cell. So that’s where we are.”
The steel industry is watching.
“The first thing I did when I joined the company was to visit my friends, all the CEOs of the different steelmaking companies, especially in Asia, to present them the idea. That’s six years ago,” Carniero said. “It’s funny, for most of them, it seemed to be too early. Now, they are all desperate — because they have to find a solution. And they don’t have a solution.”
Other benefits of the process
Boston Metal’s process can use low-grade iron ore, which is one of the reasons that the IFC invested in the company.
Boston Metal can make steel with low grade iron ore, such as this Australian ore from mining company BHP, which is one of the start-up’s investors.
Cat Clifford, CNBC
“There are many emerging markets that have lots of iron ore, it’s just low quality and so therefore they can’t have steel production with blast furnace technology. They can use the Boston Metal technology,” Sonneborn told CNBC.
That means that these developing markets can make their own steel, creating self-sufficiency for these countries’ economies, Sonneborn said.
Also, the electrolysis cells can get bigger to a certain point, but after that the company will have to place many cells next to each other to make green steel.
This is a mid-size electrolysis device, between the lab scale bench and the full-scale cell. This can run for weeks at a time and gathers performance data for the anode. (The text on the white board has been covered to protect the intellectual property of Boston Metal.)
Cat Clifford, CNBC
“If you go to a full-scale plant using this technology, you might see a couple hundred electrolysis cells.” Rauwerdink told CNBC.
That cell modularity is attractive to the World Bank.
“The modular technology of Boston Metal allows a small country like Burkina Faso to build their own steel plant, to have their own steel production — as opposed to importing it from India and paying hard currency outside of the country when it could actually do it internally,” Sonneborn told CNBC.
Here, one full-scale anode is running the electrolysis process at Boston Metal’s Woburn location.
Cat Clifford, CNBC
Another, faster path to revenue
Boston Metal is in the midst of raising what it hopes will be a $300 million funding raise. So far, it has closed half of that round and has “much of the remainder spoken for,” Rauwerdink told CNBC.
The main goal of Boston Metal is green steel, but the company will also use its core electrolysis technology to produce tin, niobium, and tantalum metals from what is otherwise considered waste from the mining process. About one third of the $300 million will go towards getting this program commercialized in its Brazil subsidiary, and the largest device the company has built so far will be used there.
Reporter Cat Clifford stands next to Boston Metal’s multi-anode electrolyzer cell. (A portion of the device has been covered to protect the intellectual property of Boston Metal.)
Cat Clifford, CNBC
Niobium is primarily used in making steel, tin us used both as a metal and in electronics, and tantalum is used, among other purposes, in the electronics industry for capacitors and other components.
“It’s easier, that’s why we can deploy earlier,” Carneiro told CNBC in Woburn. “The characteristics of the anodes are different.”
The metal-generation business in Brazil will be the first to generate revenue for the company.
The other two thirds of the $300 million raise will go towards finalizing the development of the steel making process and its components. Boston Metal plans to be at commercial scale for making green steel in 2026.
When Boston Metal is ready to commercialize its green steel operation, these kinds of cells will run for years at a time. Boston Metal will make money both by licensing the technology and by making and selling the anodes needed for the green steel process.
Boston Metal hopes to start licensing the technology in 2026, Carniero told CNBC.
IFC wants Boston Metal to be successful so that it can help developing nations build their own steel manufacturing, but also so it can generate returns for other projects. IFC does not pay out dividends from its investments to investors — all gains go right back into the coffer.
“When we exit, all of those gains are going to go back to solving gender inequality in India or South Asia or climate challenges in different aspects. So every profit that we make, again doesn’t get distributed as a dividend to our shareholders, it gets reinvested back into our development goals,” Sonneborn told CNBC.
Formula One F1 – United States Grand Prix – Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas, U.S. – October 23, 2022 Tim Cook waves the chequered flag to the race winner Red Bull’s Max Verstappen
Mike Segar | Reuters
Apple had two major launches last month. They couldn’t have been more different.
First, Apple revealed some of the artificial intelligence advancements it had been working on in the past year when it released developer versions of its operating systems to muted applause at its annual developer’s conference, WWDC. Then, at the end of the month, Apple hit the red carpet as its first true blockbuster movie, “F1,” debuted to over $155 million — and glowing reviews — in its first weekend.
While “F1” was a victory lap for Apple, highlighting the strength of its long-term outlook, the growth of its services business and its ability to tap into culture, Wall Street’s reaction to the company’s AI announcements at WWDC suggest there’s some trouble underneath the hood.
“F1” showed Apple at its best — in particular, its ability to invest in new, long-term projects. When Apple TV+ launched in 2019, it had only a handful of original shows and one movie, a film festival darling called “Hala” that didn’t even share its box office revenue.
Despite Apple TV+ being written off as a costly side-project, Apple stuck with its plan over the years, expanding its staff and operation in Culver City, California. That allowed the company to build up Hollywood connections, especially for TV shows, and build an entertainment track record. Now, an Apple Original can lead the box office on a summer weekend, the prime season for blockbuster films.
The success of “F1” also highlights Apple’s significant marketing machine and ability to get big-name talent to appear with its leadership. Apple pulled out all the stops to market the movie, including using its Wallet app to send a push notification with a discount for tickets to the film. To promote “F1,” Cook appeared with movie star Brad Pitt at an Apple store in New York and posted a video with actual F1 racer Lewis Hamilton, who was one of the film’s producers.
(L-R) Brad Pitt, Lewis Hamilton, Tim Cook, and Damson Idris attend the World Premiere of “F1: The Movie” in Times Square on June 16, 2025 in New York City.
Jamie Mccarthy | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Although Apple services chief Eddy Cue said in a recent interview that Apple needs the its film business to be profitable to “continue to do great things,” “F1” isn’t just about the bottom line for the company.
Apple’s Hollywood productions are perhaps the most prominent face of the company’s services business, a profit engine that has been an investor favorite since the iPhone maker started highlighting the division in 2016.
Films will only ever be a small fraction of the services unit, which also includes payments, iCloud subscriptions, magazine bundles, Apple Music, game bundles, warranties, fees related to digital payments and ad sales. Plus, even the biggest box office smashes would be small on Apple’s scale — the company does over $1 billion in sales on average every day.
But movies are the only services component that can get celebrities like Pitt or George Clooney to appear next to an Apple logo — and the success of “F1” means that Apple could do more big popcorn films in the future.
“Nothing breeds success or inspires future investment like a current success,” said Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
But if “F1” is a sign that Apple’s services business is in full throttle, the company’s AI struggles are a “check engine” light that won’t turn off.
Replacing Siri’s engine
At WWDC last month, Wall Street was eager to hear about the company’s plans for Apple Intelligence, its suite of AI features that it first revealed in 2024. Apple Intelligence, which is a key tenet of the company’s hardware products, had a rollout marred by delays and underwhelming features.
Apple spent most of WWDC going over smaller machine learning features, but did not reveal what investors and consumers increasingly want: A sophisticated Siri that can converse fluidly and get stuff done, like making a restaurant reservation. In the age of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini, the expectation of AI assistants among consumers is growing beyond “Siri, how’s the weather?”
The company had previewed a significantly improved Siri in the summer of 2024, but earlier this year, those features were delayed to sometime in 2026. At WWDC, Apple didn’t offer any updates about the improved Siri beyond that the company was “continuing its work to deliver” the features in the “coming year.” Some observers reduced their expectations for Apple’s AI after the conference.
“Current expectations for Apple Intelligence to kickstart a super upgrade cycle are too high, in our view,” wrote Jefferies analysts this week.
Siri should be an example of how Apple’s ability to improve products and projects over the long-term makes it tough to compete with.
It beat nearly every other voice assistant to market when it first debuted on iPhones in 2011. Fourteen years later, Siri remains essentially the same one-off, rigid, question-and-answer system that struggles with open-ended questions and dates, even after the invention in recent years of sophisticated voice bots based on generative AI technology that can hold a conversation.
Apple’s strongest rivals, including Android parent Google, have done way more to integrate sophisticated AI assistants into their devices than Apple has. And Google doesn’t have the same reflex against collecting data and cloud processing as privacy-obsessed Apple.
Some analysts have said they believe Apple has a few years before the company’s lack of competitive AI features will start to show up in device sales, given the company’s large installed base and high customer loyalty. But Apple can’t get lapped before it re-enters the race, and its former design guru Jony Ive is now working on new hardware with OpenAI, ramping up the pressure in Cupertino.
“The three-year problem, which is within an investment time frame, is that Android is racing ahead,” Needham senior internet analyst Laura Martin said on CNBC this week.
Apple’s services success with projects like “F1” is an example of what the company can do when it sets clear goals in public and then executes them over extended time-frames.
Its AI strategy could use a similar long-term plan, as customers and investors wonder when Apple will fully embrace the technology that has captivated Silicon Valley.
Wall Street’s anxiety over Apple’s AI struggles was evident this week after Bloomberg reported that Apple was considering replacing Siri’s engine with Anthropic or OpenAI’s technology, as opposed to its own foundation models.
The move, if it were to happen, would contradict one of Apple’s most important strategies in the Cook era: Apple wants to own its core technologies, like the touchscreen, processor, modem and maps software, not buy them from suppliers.
Using external technology would be an admission that Apple Foundation Models aren’t good enough yet for what the company wants to do with Siri.
“They’ve fallen farther and farther behind, and they need to supercharge their generative AI efforts” Martin said. “They can’t do that internally.”
Apple might even pay billions for the use of Anthropic’s AI software, according to the Bloomberg report. If Apple were to pay for AI, it would be a reversal from current services deals, like the search deal with Alphabet where the Cupertino company gets paid $20 billion per year to push iPhone traffic to Google Search.
The company didn’t confirm the report and declined comment, but Wall Street welcomed the report and Apple shares rose.
In the world of AI in Silicon Valley, signing bonuses for the kinds of engineers that can develop new models can range up to $100 million, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
“I can’t see Apple doing that,” Martin said.
Earlier this week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sent a memo bragging about hiring 11 AI experts from companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google’s DeepMind. That came after Zuckerberg hired Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang to lead a new AI division as part of a $14.3 billion deal.
Meta’s not the only company to spend hundreds of millions on AI celebrities to get them in the building. Google spent big to hire away the founders of Character.AI, Microsoft got its AI leader by striking a deal with Inflection and Amazon hired the executive team of Adept to bulk up its AI roster.
Apple, on the other hand, hasn’t announced any big AI hires in recent years. While Cook rubs shoulders with Pitt, the actual race may be passing Apple by.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks alongside U.S. President Donald Trump to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who bombarded President Donald Trump‘s signature spending bill for weeks, on Friday made his first comments since the legislation passed.
Musk backed a post on X by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who said the bill’s budget “explodes the deficit” and continues a pattern of “short-term politicking over long-term sustainability.”
The House of Representatives narrowly passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on Thursday, sending it to Trump to sign into law.
Paul and Musk have been vocal opponents of Trump’s tax and spending bill, and repeatedly called out the potential for the spending package to increase the national debt.
On Monday, Musk called it the “DEBT SLAVERY bill.”
The independent Congressional Budget Office has said the bill could add $3.4 trillion to the $36.2 trillion of U.S. debt over the next decade. The White House has labeled the agency as “partisan” and continuously refuted the CBO’s estimates.
The bill includes trillions of dollars in tax cuts, increased spending for immigration enforcement and large cuts to funding for Medicaid and other programs.
It also cuts tax credits and support for solar and wind energy and electric vehicles, a particularly sore spot for Musk, who has several companies that benefit from the programs.
“I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!” Trump wrote in a social media post in early June as the pair traded insults and threats.
Shares of Tesla plummeted as the feud intensified, with the company losing $152 billion in market cap on June 5 and putting the company below $1 trillion in value. The stock has largely rebounded since, but is still below where it was trading before the ruckus with Trump.
Tesla one-month stock chart.
— CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger and Erin Doherty contributed to this article.
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