10/14/2025, 7:04:37 PM | China | United States | Australia | South America | Middle East
Military & Defense
The U.S. is scaling domestic rare earth processing and allied sourcing to reduce dependence on China and secure defense supply chains.
The United States is accelerating efforts to build a domestic rare earths industry as China tightens export controls on key elements amid trade tensions.
Rare earth elements are essential for high-performance magnets, sensors and electronics used in civilian and military systems—an F-35 contains roughly 900 pounds of these materials and a submarine can require more than 9,000 pounds. Processing and finished components, particularly magnets, remain dominated by China, creating a strategic vulnerability.
A small pilot plant in Durham, North Carolina, run by startup Vulcan Elements, is attempting to rebuild that domestic capability. The company currently produces about 10 metric tons a year of rare-earth-enhanced magnets, has secured more than $10 million in military and commercial contracts, and recently closed a $65 million Series A to scale capacity to several hundred tons in the next few years and several thousand by the decade's end. The firm stresses its supply chain and equipment are free of Chinese ties.
Washington is pursuing a multi-pronged approach: financing domestic processing, cutting deals with existing U.S. firms, and signing bilateral agreements with allies including Australia, Brazil and Saudi Arabia. Analysts say geology and industrial lead times mean a resilient, allied supply chain could take close to a decade to mature.