A Major Bet on Domestic Rare Earth Supply
MP Materials has chosen Northlake, Texas, as the site of its new $1.25 billion rare earth magnet manufacturing campus, marking one of the largest U.S. investments in critical mineral infrastructure in recent years.
The facility, known as “10X,” will rely on rare earth materials sourced and processed from MP’s Mountain Pass mine in California — currently the only commercial-scale rare earth mining operation in the United States.
The move comes amid intensified efforts to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign rare earth supply chains, particularly China, which controls more than 90% of global processing and magnet manufacturing capacity.
Scaling Magnet Production at Home
Once operational, the 10X facility is expected to produce roughly 7,000 metric tons of rare earth magnets annually, lifting MP Materials’ total capacity to about 10,000 metric tons per year.
The company already operates a magnet facility in Fort Worth, Texas, which began commercial production in 2025 and has capacity of approximately 3,000 tons per year. Customers there include major automakers and technology firms.
The new Texas campus is expected to begin production in 2028 and create approximately 1,500 direct manufacturing and engineering jobs.
Defense-Backed Expansion
In 2025, the U.S. Department of Defense took a $400 million stake in MP Materials as part of a broader strategy to secure access to critical minerals used in defense systems, data centers, electric vehicles, and electronics.
Under the agreement:
- The Pentagon guaranteed a minimum price for neodymium-praseodymium oxide for 10 years.
- All output from the 10X facility is currently committed to the Department of Defense for a decade.
There remains potential for commercial customers to access material with federal approval.
The partnership underscores the strategic importance of rare earth magnets — essential components in everything from advanced weapons systems to EV motors and AI-driven infrastructure.
Why This Matters
China’s dominance of rare earth processing has long been viewed as a geopolitical vulnerability.
Recent export controls highlighted how dependent global supply chains remain on a single country for critical materials.
U.S. imports of rare earth magnets declined sharply in 2025 amid those restrictions — reinforcing the urgency of domestic capacity buildout.
MP Materials’ Texas expansion aims to address that bottleneck by creating a vertically integrated U.S. rare earth ecosystem — from mine to magnet.
WSA Take
Rare earth magnets are not just industrial components — they are strategic infrastructure.
The Texas 10X facility represents more than capacity expansion. It signals that rare earth processing and magnet manufacturing are becoming national priorities.
With federal backing, long-term purchase guarantees, and growing demand from EVs, defense, and data centers, MP Materials is positioning itself at the center of America’s rare earth reshoring effort.
In the broader market, critical minerals are no longer niche commodities. They’re becoming geopolitical leverage.
And the build-out is accelerating.
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