Governments and industry are racing to build homegrown production of rare-earth magnets — vital components for electric-vehicle motors, wind turbines and defence systems — unveiling a string of incentive plans and public-private deals intended to break long-standing reliance on China.
India said it is preparing fiscal incentives and other targeted support to kick-start domestic magnet manufacture as part of a broader mission to shore up critical-minerals supply chains, with officials and reports pointing to multi-hundred-crore funding proposals and production targets over the coming years.
In the United States, MP Materials sealed a landmark agreement with the Department of Defense to build a second large magnet facility (the “10X Facility”), backed by multibillion-dollar commitments that include a guaranteed offtake and price floor for key rare-earth oxides — a move the company says will lift U.S. magnet capacity toward domestic demand levels.
Commercial miners and processors are also reporting progress: U.S. firms including Energy Fuels and USA Rare Earth say they have begun or plan scaled oxide production and magnet manufacturing facilities to close the processing loop domestically, with some projects aiming for initial output between 2026 and the late 2020s.
The flurry of investment follows Beijing’s tighter controls on several medium and heavy rare-earth exports this year, which disrupted global supply lines and added urgency to Western and Asian efforts to create resilient, non-Chinese supply chains for high-performance NdFeB and other magnets.
Analysts warn the transition faces major hurdles — from the capital intensity of separation and metallisation plants to scaling industrial know-how and securing reliable feedstock — meaning many countries will need sustained policy support, offtake guarantees and coordination between mining, refining and manufacturing actors to reach commercial scale.
Still, policymakers frame the push as strategic: boosting domestic magnet production is being cast not only as an industrial priority to power clean-energy and automotive industries, but as a matter of national security in a market long dominated by a single supplier.
