Ascend on Thursday had approximately $103.5 million in funded debt, $40 million in unsecured debt, and $145 million in lien claims.
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Battery materials manufacturer Ascend Elements has voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after what the Westborough-based firm’s CEO calls a long history of fiscal and operational mismanagement.
The filing on Thursday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas follows construction delays at its Kentucky facility and growing global competition, particularly from China’s dominance in battery materials and refining.
Ascend on Thursday had approximately $103.5 million in funded debt, $40 million in unsecured debt, and $145 million in lien claims.
“As I knew when I accepted the position as CEO, we needed a stronger, more flexible balance sheet to match the scale of the opportunity in front of us,” Linh Austin, Ascend president and CEO, wrote in a statement provided to WBJ.
Austin joined Ascend in March 2025.
The manufacturer does not plan layoffs among its 102 U.S. employees or its 14 contractors and subcontractors, Ascend spokesperson Wilson Craig wrote in an email to WBJ.
The company’s Westborough research-and-development facility remains open.
The bankruptcy is intended to maximize value for stakeholders and serve as a tool to reset the company, Austin said.
The company has more than $2 billion in future commercial commitments and a $320-million grant tied to its Poland facility.
“We are here to build a more resilient, circular, and secure battery materials supply chain for the markets we serve, and to do it in a way that creates long‑term value for employees, customers, communities, and investors,” Austin said.
Founded in 2015, Ascend specializes in recycling lithium-ion batteries to return active materials to the domestic battery supply chain.
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare, manufacturing, and higher education industries.
