Morgan Stanley says salt is the new oil. Here's why and how to play it

Salt can become a hot commodity amid a boom in demand for sodium-ion batteries, according to Morgan Stanley. Analyst Jack Lu and his team at the bank predict sodium-ion batteries will account for 20% of total battery deployment market share by 2030 and 37% in 2035. Currently, his team expects it to make up around 2% of the market next year. "We characterize the incipient sodium-ion battery era as the 'New Oil Age,'" Lu wrote to clients. Lu said sodium-ion batteries are gaining traction because they are 30% to 40% more affordable than those made from lithium iron phosphate. On top of that, Lu said they perform better in cold weather. Given these benefits, Lu said the sodium-ion battery market is slated to grow from today's pilot stage to having an annual global market of 830 gigawatt hours by 2030. That number could then balloon to 2.4 terawatt hours by 2035, he said. To power this growth, Lu said to expect around $800 billion in new investments by 2035. "In an AI-driven, power-intensive world, sodium-ion batteries address the critical bottleneck where energy security meets AI," Lu wrote. "This chemistry is much more than a mere niche experiment. The new breed of batteries could redefine energy security and disrupt both new deployments and installed base." Lu said to expect industry winners to take more in the emerging space. …