Harbinger Motors raised $160 million and secured an order from FedEx as the company ramps up production of its medium-duty electric vehicles.

The WSJ Logistics Report’s Liz Young writes that the Series C funding round was led by FedEx, along with recreational-vehicle manufacturer Thor Industries and Capricorn Investment Group’s technology impact fund. FedEx placed an initial order for 53 trucks as part of its investment.

Harbinger declined to disclose its current valuation, but said it has raised $358 million since its 2021 founding. The California company designs and makes stripped chassis, which retail for about $110,000 each. These are delivered to companies that incorporate them into customized vehicles, such as delivery-truck makers Morgan Olson and Utilimaster and RV-maker Thor.

Harbinger has made about 400 vehicles since it started manufacturing in January and expects to produce about 3,000 next year. It is increasing production even amid a broader slowdown in the trucking market as carriers grapple with a yearslong slump in freight demand.

Toyota is making a big bet on greener transportation by opening a $14 billion battery plant in North Carolina. The Japanese auto giant also said it would invest up to $10 billion in U.S. manufacturing over the next five years, in addition to the battery site, The Wall Street Journal’s Christopher Otts writes.

The batteries Toyota has begun making at the sprawling plant are going into hybrids assembled in Kentucky and Alabama. The complex is designed to make batteries for EVs and hybrids, including plug-ins. With the market for pure EVs in the U.S. evaporating, Toyota is gambling that American consumers will buy more hybrids, which get higher mileage than a standard gas-powered car.

U.S. export restrictions have prompted China to intervene in how the output of its biggest contract chip maker is distributed, according to people familiar with the matter. The WSJ’s Lingling Wei, Amrith Ramkumar and Robbie Whelan write that Beijing is prioritizing the needs of tech conglomerate Huawei, which uses Semiconductor Manufacturing International’s technology for AI chips.

Chinese tech companies are fighting to secure limited domestic capacity and, in some cases, labs are smuggling coveted supplies of high-performance Nvidia chips. DeepSeek had to delay the release of its latest model because of a chip shortage, while firms like Huawei are cobbling together workarounds. The lengths to which Chinese companies and Beijing are going in the face of recent U.S. restrictions are a sign of the stakes in the race for AI supremacy.

• AMD expects its AI chip sales to grow at an 80% annual pace over the coming few years, and estimates that should give it a double-digit market share by 2030. (WSJ)
• Foxconn Technology Group expects a strong year ahead as AI demand continues to grow, with the world’s largest contract electronics maker saying it will collaborate with OpenAI. (WSJ)
• Microsoft is expanding its data center build-out with an AI “super factory,” a set of structures in Atlanta aimed at connecting with infrastructure elsewhere to harness computing power. (WSJ)
• The U.K. said it would limit scientific cooperation with China to climate change, space, health and food because of national security concerns. (Dow Jones Risk Journal)

• Two major government reports on inflation and the labor market for October are “likely never” to be released, the White House press secretary said. (WSJ)
• India’s consumer-price index rose just 0.25% in October—the lowest reading since the data series began in 2012. (WSJ)
• India’s federal cabinet approved more than $5 billion in relief measures for exporters hit by U.S. tariffs. (Bloomberg)
• The Trump administration is poised to unveil a plan to allow oil drilling off the California coast, according to people familiar with the matter. (WSJ)
• Buyout firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice is in talks to take Bubble Wrap-maker Sealed Air private, according to people familiar with the matter. (WSJ)
• Chevron said it entered exclusive talks with an unnamed “premier customer” over bringing a power plant online to service an AI data center in the West Texas shale patch. (WSJ)
• Fincantieri’s revenue rose 20.5% in the first nine months of the year, boosted by underwater drones and unmanned military surface vehicles. (WSJ)
• Alphabet’s Waymo will become the first company to offer driverless rides on U.S. highways, starting in the San Francisco Bay area, Phoenix and Los Angeles. (Marketwatch)
• The family of shipping magnate and CMA CGM Chief Executive Rodolphe Saadé bought a stake of about 4% in French grocer Carrefour. (Dow Jones Newswires)
• Evergreen Marine ordered 14 LNG-fueled vessels for nearly $3 billion, with construction split between South Korea and China. (Journal of Commerce)
• CMA CGM said it had signed a term sheet to acquire a 20% stake in the Eurogate Container Terminal at the German port of Hamburg. (The Loadstar)
• South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries agreed to manufacture ammonia power-generation units for New York-based startup Amogy. (Hydrogen Insight)
• Volkswagen unit Everllence, formerly called MAN Energy Group, introduced an ammonia-powered engine for shipping. (ShippingWatch)

Mark R. Long is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at mark.long@wsj.com. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team on LinkedIn: Mark R. Long, Liz Young and Paul Berger.