A strategic race to摆脱 the reliance on China's rare earth permanent magnets is fully underway in the West. Faced with China increasingly using critical minerals as a geopolitical lever, the United States and Europe are making unprecedented efforts from two dimensions: technological innovation and supply chain reconstruction, aiming to break this industry shackles that have long been tightly controlled by Beijing. This is not only an economic war, but also relates to their future dominance in green energy transition and national defense security.

The urgency of this competition was raised to a new level in 2025. In April of that year, Beijing further tightened export controls on seven rare earth elements and their products (especially high-performance magnets), seen as a repetition and escalation of the 2010 incident when exports to Japan were suspended due to territorial disputes. This once again shows the world that China not only dominates about 60% of global rare earth mining, but more importantly, it controls nearly 90% of the rare earth refining processing and magnet manufacturing - this is the true "Achilles' heel" for Western countries. From the efficient motors of electric vehicles, the generators of wind turbines, to the radar systems of F-35 fighter jets, these cornerstones of modern industry all depend on China's rare earth permanent magnets.

Two-front War: Rebuilding the Supply Chain and Technological Innovation

To address this challenge, Western countries are waging a "two-front war." The first front is rebuilding a complete rare earth supply chain independent of China. The U.S. government is injecting hundreds of millions of dollars into the country's only rare earth miner, MP Materials, and providing price guarantees for its products to support the establishment of vertical integration production capacity from mines to magnets. Similarly, Australia's Lynas Rare Earths company is building a new processing facility in Texas with funding from the U.S. Department of Defense.

In Europe, the Critical Raw Materials Act came into effect in 2024, setting ambitious goals for the EU: by 2030, domestic mining will meet 10% of annual consumption, domestic processing will meet 40%, recycling will meet 25%, and no single third country will supply more than 65% of strategic raw materials. The core goal of these policies is clear: to reduce risks and achieve diversified sources of supply.

The second front is more disruptive: through technological innovation, completely "designing out" the dependence on rare earths. Laboratories and startups around the world are accelerating the development of next-generation permanent magnets without rare earths. Among them, companies such as Niron Magnetics in the United States are leading the commercialization of iron nitride magnets. These magnets use abundant iron and nitrogen from the earth as raw materials, not only offering the potential to get rid of the dependence on rare earths, but also surpassing traditional rare earth magnets in certain performance aspects, such as high-temperature stability. Although these alternative technologies still have a long way to go before they can be fully commercialized and match the top rare earth magnets in performance, they represent an ultimate solution that cuts to the root of the problem.

Real Obstacles and a Long Road Ahead

However, the road to "rare earth independence" is full of challenges. First, there are huge economic costs. China's scale economy and cost advantages built up over the past few decades are difficult to surpass in a short period of time. Without continuous, large-scale government subsidies, newly built production facilities in the West would find it hard to compete with Chinese products commercially.

Secondly, there are technical and time barriers. A complete rare earth processing and magnet manufacturing plant usually requires several years to plan and launch, and requires highly specialized technology and talent. Even if projects like those of MP Materials proceed at full speed, their initial output is just a drop in the bucket compared to China's massive production capacity. More importantly, for some cutting-edge military and industrial applications, the comprehensive performance of existing rare earth permanent magnets remains irreplaceable.

Despite this, Western countries have made up their minds. The outcome of this strategic game over rare earths will profoundly affect the global technological landscape and the balance of geopolitical power for the next few decades. This is no longer a question of whether to reduce reliance, but rather how to win this long-term battle as quickly and at the lowest cost possible by combining supply chain reconstruction and technological breakthroughs.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7536422463865913896/

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