KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian advanced-materials company and deep-tech unicorn Vertex Material has signed a 15-year offtake agreement with Sky-Dweller Construction LLC worth about US$2.2 billion, expanding its US-based commercial partnership into India with its proprietary copper-composite products.
Building on the parties’ existing distribution arrangement across the US and Canada, the agreement establishes a long-term commercial foundation for Vertex’s planned manufacturing scale-up while broadening the international markets the partnership serves.
The signing ceremony brought together representatives of Vertex Material, Sky-Dweller, and Aurelius Materials alongside invited guests from government, US exchange, international capital markets, and industry.
The programme included addresses by Science, Technology and Innovation minister Datuk Chang Lih Kang and Nasdaq vice chairman Bob McCooey, highlighting how a homegrown Malaysian materials innovation is scaling into global industrial supply chains.
Vertex Material CEO Chris Lai said the company’s task is to turn the material it has developed here in Malaysia into products that global manufacturers can readily adopt.
“The expansion into the Indian market will further increase the viability of the US facility.
“This US$2.2 billion offtake provides a solid foundation for that next stage in making Vertex Material an industry player globally.
“The offtake agreements allow Vertex Material’s proprietary copper composite material to be supplied to India, which broadens the commercial opportunities we can pursue through the partnership, complementing our established distribution footprint in North America,” he said.
Sky-Dweller, which forms part of Aurelius Materials, is a US-based construction and materials-supply company operating across commercial, residential, and industrial construction, strategic procurement, and the distribution of metals and specialised materials.
Aurelius Materials operates as an international construction-materials procurement and sourcing platform and will support market development, supplier coordination, procurement, and logistics under the wider collaboration.
For Vertex Material, the partnership pairs its Malaysian materials-development capabilities with an established commercial partner that can manage customer relationships, specification matching, and international distribution.
Sky-Dweller’s expansion into India targets a rapidly growing industrial market.
According to International Copper Association India figures reported by the India Brand Equity Foundation, India’s copper demand increased 12% year-on-year to approximately 2.1 million tonnes in FY26, led by infrastructure build-outs alongside growth in the automotive and construction sectors.
Through Sky-Dweller’s network, the partners aim to supply Vertex’s copper-composite material across industrial manufacturing, electrical and energy infrastructure, and electronics-related thermal-management applications in India.
The agreement addresses a structural challenge facing global industry: meeting surging material demand across data centres, AI applications, electrification, EV and renewable energy resources while addressing the global constraint in copper supply.
In its Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2026, the International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that expected mine supply from existing and announced projects could fall approximately 25% short of primary copper requirements by 2035.
Rather than replacing pure copper across all uses, Vertex Material’s approach is to supplement conventional copper supply by reducing the amount of pure metal required in suitable applications.
The company uses a proprietary formulation and powder-metallurgy process to engineer copper-composite materials tailored to specific electrical, thermal, and mechanical requirements.
The company is targeting industrial thermal management, electrical components and metal platings, including data-centre thermal-management systems and electronics, where adoption of Vertex Material’s technology will allow these industries to grow significantly.
“The question is not simply how much copper a material contains, but whether it can do what is required. Our focus is on applications where we can make each tonne of copper go further while meeting the required performance.
“For us, taking Malaysian technology internationally means turning our local R&D into products that industrial buyers globally choose for their performance and efficiency. The opportunity is to build a global business around that Malaysian know-how, backed by long-term manufacturing capabilities and commercial relationships,” Lai said.
To align production capacity with its growing commercial pipeline in North America and India, Vertex Material is advancing plans for a large-scale manufacturing facility in the United States, closer to North American industrial customers and raw-material supply networks.
Working with the Greater Phoenix Economic Council to assess sites and incentives, the company is evaluating locations in Arizona—an established industrial hub housing many copper mines, semiconductor manufacturers, materials suppliers, and engineering talent.
The facility has an eventual annual production capacity target of one million metric tonnes, with commercial production targeted to commence in 2028.
The project remains subject to final site selection, financing, and regulatory approvals, and the capacity target reflects a phased scale-up over time.
Vertex Material has an enterprise valuation of approximately US$7 billion—placing it among Malaysia’s deep-tech unicorns—based on a valuation report prepared by a Malaysian accounting firm.
Building on its Malaysian technological foundation and expanding international commercial network, the company is targeting a proposed direct listing on Nasdaq in 2027, subject to fulfilling all relevant regulatory requirements and approvals.
