German media: Apple spends 500 million to purchase U.S. domestic rare earth magnets
Apple Inc. has signed a long-term agreement with a U.S. domestic rare earth supplier to purchase rare earth magnet materials, and is building the most advanced rare earth recycling facility in California.
Apple announced this week that it has signed a 500 million dollar long-term agreement with MP Materials, a U.S. company that is the only one in the United States capable of producing finished rare earth materials from mining to processing.
According to the announcement, MP Materials will produce rare earth magnet materials in Fort Worth, Texas, while the rare earth recycling plant will be located in Mountain Pass, California. Apple CEO Cook emphasized the importance of rare earth materials and domestic investment in the announcement - the long-term agreement with MP Materials is part of Apple's plan to invest 50 billion dollars in the U.S. over the next four years.
This agreement has also been seen as a public relations move targeting the Trump administration. Since the latter took office for the second time, he has repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with American companies producing phones in China and India. In May, he even threatened Apple and Samsung that in the future, phones sold in the U.S. that are not produced in the U.S. would face a 25% tariff.
MP Materials plans to expand the neodymium magnet production line at its Fort Worth factory for Apple. The magnet materials produced in the U.S. will be sold domestically and globally to meet global demand. This expansion is expected to create dozens of manufacturing and R&D jobs. Both companies are committed to training employees, building a talent pool, and developing expertise in magnet production.
China currently almost monopolizes the global market for rare earth magnet materials, which are essential for products such as electric vehicles. Therefore, China previously used restrictions on rare earth exports as a countermeasure against the U.S. trade war, causing concerns among global companies. Some European automotive companies have even faced the threat of shutdowns recently because of this. However, during the June Sino-U.S. talks, Beijing has promised to export rare earth materials to the U.S. In this context, the U.S. has recently made concessions in high-performance chip export controls, and some advanced semiconductor products, including the NVIDIA H20 AI chip, have been re-sold to China.
Source: DW
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1837951489528907/
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