The funding package, comprising a £40m ($53.6m) equity investment from GBE and a proposed £46.5m ($62.3m) government grant, will support the development of an automated production line for ITM’s Chronos PEM stacks.

The £120m ($160.8m) project at the company’s Sheffield site is targeting a nameplate capacity of 1GW by 2028 and will include automated equipment for catalyst-coated membranes, electrode welding, coatings, stack assembly, and cleanroom facilities.

H2 View understands the Chronos line will be deployed alongside ITM’s existing Trident stack capacity.

Chronos has been positioned as a lower-cost, higher-performance platform incorporating “lessons learned” from Trident to reduce part count by 50% and double power density to 2.5MW/m².

Based on current disclosures, GBE’s equity investment will see it acquire nearly 72 million shares, making it ITM’s second-largest shareholder.

ITM has also revised its FY2026 cash guidance to £210m–£215m ($281.4m–$288m), up from £170m–£175m ($227.8m–$234.5m).

The £46.5m grant from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is expected to be finalised in June following an evaluation by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority.

ITM CEO Dennis Schulz said the backing positions the company as a “natural partner” for UK green hydrogen projects.

“The UK government’s support…marks a pivotal step in establishing ITM Power at the centre of the UK’s hydrogen economy,” he added.

The move signals a more direct state role in scaling UK manufacturing, as policymakers seek to anchor supply chains domestically.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the investment would help “rebuild” the UK’s energy security through “clean homegrown power and good industrial jobs.”

The backing follows ITM reporting its “strongest” six-month revenue performance in January, while reducing losses and increasing its profitable contract backlog.

However, it comes amid a growing mismatch between electrolyser manufacturing capacity and installed projects.

A World Bank group report recently said global manufacturing had reached 61GW, with another 16GW under construction, while operational electrolyser capacity was just 2.15GW.

The majority of this manufacturing expansion has been driven by China, which benefits from low-cost material supply chains and workforces.