Apple Agrees to $500 Million Rare Earth Magnets Deal

Apple signed $500 million agreement with US rare earth producer MP Materials. The deal should bolster the iPhone maker’s supply chain while contributing to a commitment of spending $500 billion in the country over the next four years.

The vendor stated MP Materials is the only fully integrated rare earth producer in the country, and through the multi-year deal, it would purchase US-made rare earth magnets developed at the mining company’s facility in Fort Worth, Texas. Both companies will further work on establishing a rare earth recycling line at a new facility in the state of California, developing materials and innovative processing technologies to enhance magnet performance.

At the facility in Texas, Apple and MP Materials plan to build out a series of Neodymium magnet manufacturing lines specifically for Apple products, allowing for a significant boost in overall production. Once built, Apple explained the US-made magnets would be shipped across the country and globally to increase demand for the material, support new jobs in R&D, and build a fresh pool of talent and expertise in the field. The recycling facility will enable MP Materials to take in recycled rare earth materials from used electronics and post-industrial scrap, which will be repurposed for Apple products.

Apple has worked with MP Materials since 2020 on piloting advanced recycling technology to enable rare earth magnets to be processed into material that meets its exacting standards for performance and design.“American innovation drives everything we do at Apple, and we’re proud to deepen our investment in the US economy,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. In February, Apple committed to investing $500 billion in the US across various areas, including expanding data center capacity and building out AI servers.