U.S. President Joe Biden gestures after speaking about the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House, in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 19. AFP-Yonhap

The Biden administration said on Wednesday it is awarding $2.8 billion in grants to boost U.S. production of electric vehicle batteries and the minerals used to build them, part of a bid to wean the country off supplies from China.

"By undercutting U.S. manufacturers with their unfair subsidies and trade practices, China seized a significant portion of the market," President Joe Biden said Wednesday in announcing the awards. "Today we're stepping up... to take it back, not all of it, but bold goals."

Albemarle Corp is among the 20 manufacturing and processing companies receiving U.S. Energy Department grants to domestically mine lithium, graphite and nickel, build the first large-scale U.S. lithium processing facility, construct facilities to build cathodes and other battery parts, and expand battery recycling.

The grants, which are going to projects across at least 12 states, mark the latest push by the Biden administration to help reduce the country's dependence on China and other nations for the building blocks of the green energy revolution.

The funding recipients, first reported by Reuters, were chosen by a White House steering committee and coordinated by the Energy Department with support from the Interior Department.

But the program does nothing to alleviate permitting delays faced by some in the mining industry.

Albemarle is set to receive $149.7 million to build a facility in North Carolina to lightly process rock containing lithium from a mine it is trying to reopen. That facility would then feed a separate U.S. plant that the company said in June would double the company's lithium production for EV batteries.

Albemarle, which also produces lithium in Australia and Chile, said the grant "increases the speed of lithium processing and reduces greenhouse gas emissions from long-distance transportation of raw minerals."