Slow Market for U.S. Rare-Earth Magnets Sends Players Abroad

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Written by Will Ploch, Assistant Editor-in-Chief for IIR News Intelligence (Sugar Land, Texas)

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Summary

Despite growing interest in the domestic development of rare-earth materials, the market for magnets comprised of the resource has struggled to get off the ground. Some rare-earth firms are looking to players in East Asia for business.

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Magnet Market Isn't Catching On

U.S. magnet manufacturers are driving much of the movement in the domestic rare-earth market... but not in a way its leaders once anticipated. According to a report from Financial Times, many U.S.-based rare-earth developers are shipping their products to customers in East Asia, where magnet manufacturing is moving at a much faster pace than at home. Industrial Info Resources is tracking more than $5.8 billion worth of active and proposed rare-earth magnet projects across the U.S.

Rare-earth materials are used in everything from smartphones to jet engines to missile-defense systems. Last spring, China sharply tightened its exports of rare earths to the U.S. amid its ongoing tit-for-tat trade disputes with the Trump administration, which highlighted the U.S. dependence on other nations for the resource. To date, MP Materials Corporation is the only company with operational, commercial-scale rare earth-mining facilities within the U.S.

According to Industrial Info Resources data, two operational facilities owned by MP Materials--a mine and mill in Mountain Pass, California, and a magnet manufacturing plant in Fort Worth, Texas--account for $470 million worth of active and proposed capital-spending projects. At the Mountain Pass mill, MP Materials is in the final stages of adding a separation plant that will extract oxides from heavy rare-earth concentrate.

Industrial Info Resources offers more information on these developments in its Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Metals & Minerals Plant and Project databases, where readers can find details--including construction schedules, investment values and necessary equipment--in profiles of the Mountain Pass and Fort Worth plants, and a report on the separation plant project.

MP Materials also hopes to build a second U.S.-based magnet-manufacturing facility, to be called the MP 10X campus. One site reportedly under consideration would be in Northlake, Texas, roughly 50 miles north of the Fort Worth plant. Meanwhile, Boston-based Vulcan Elements hopes to enter the market with a commercial-scale manufacturing plant in Benson, North Carolina, which would retrofit an existing facility to produce rare-earth magnets.

Both projects are designed to produce 10,000 metric tons per year. But both remain in their early development phases, where plenty of factors can alter or eliminate the proposed investment. Readers can consult detailed reports on the MP 10X and Benson projects.

By the Numbers

• More than $5.8 billion: Total value of active and proposed rare-earth magnet projects across the U.S.
• 10,000 metric tons per year: Capacity planned at plants from both MP Materials and Vulcan Elements
• More than 90%: China's share of the supply chain for rare-earth elements

Niron Sidesteps Rare-Earth Factor

Growth in the U.S. rare earth-based magnet sector has been so slow that legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Congress that would establish a federal framework to incentivize the domestic production and use of permanent magnets. As opposed to electromagnets, which need an electric current to operate, permanent magnets are made from magnetized material that ensure they are independently operational.

Last month, U.S. representatives John Moolenaar (R-Michigan) and Ro Khanna (D-California) introduced the Magnets Value Chain Support Act of 2026, which would create tax credits to support U.S. magnet production and a domestic magnet supply chain.

"Magnets are in the technology Americans rely on every day, and right now, China controls over 90% of the supply chain for these critical components," Moolenaar said in a statement announcing the proposal. "China spent decades deliberately cornering the magnet market, and last year it weaponized that leverage to restrict rare earth exports essential to our defense systems and broader economy."

Niron Magnetics Incorporated, a Minneapolis-based company that develops rare-earth-free permanent magnets made from iron nitride, applauded the proposal alongside numerous companies that use rare earths. Under the legislation, the production of non-rare-earth permanent magnets also qualify for tax credits.

Niron is seeking permits to build a magnetics plant in Sartell, Minnesota, which is designed to produce 1,500 metric tons per year of iron nitride-based permanent magnets; a proposed second phase eventually could double the output. Readers can learn more from a detailed plant profile and project reports on Phase I and Phase II.

But, like its rare earth-based peers, Niron already is finding customers overseas: This week, the company announced it had entered a supply agreement with ASPINA, a Japanese-based manufacturer of precision motors, actuators and system solutions, to help ASPINA develop "new motor designs that reduce reliance on rare earth materials while addressing supply chain concentration risks."

The Industrial Info Resources GMI Project and Plant databases offer a full list of detailed reports for projects mentioned in this article, and a full list of related plant profiles.

Industrial Info Resources also offers a full list of reports for active and proposed industrial-strength magnet projects across the U.S.

Key Takeaways

• Many U.S.-based rare-earth developers are shipping their products to customers in East Asia amid a slow magnet market at home.
• MP Materials is the only company with operational, commercial-scale rare earth-mining facilities within the U.S.
• Niron Magnetics, however, is developing rare-earth-free permanent magnets made from iron nitride.

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About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news, and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing, and energy-related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified, and verified plant and project opportunities. Across the world, Industrial Info Resources is tracking over 250,000 current and future projects worth $30.2 trillion (USD).