Apple Agrees To $500M Deal To Buy Rare Earths From American Company, Reduce China Dependence

United States tech giant Apple announced on Tuesday that it has agreed to purchase $500 million worth of rare earth magnets from American company MP Materials, after the Defense Department became the company’s largest shareholder last week.

Apple said that it will rely on MP Materials’ Fort Worth, Texas, facility to provide it with rare earth magnets that are used in important components of iPhones, The Wall Street Journal reported. Apple also needs rare earth magnets for audio equipment and microphones in other products.

MP Materials said that the deal with Apple means it “will significantly expand the capacity of its Fort Worth magnetics facility,” adding that “Magnet shipments are expected to begin in 2027 and ramp up to support hundreds of millions of Apple devices.”

“We are proud to partner with Apple to launch MP’s recycling platform and scale up our magnetics business,” said James Litinsky, Founder, Chairman and CEO of MP Materials. “This collaboration deepens our vertical integration, strengthens supply chain resilience, and reinforces America’s industrial capacity at a pivotal moment.”

MP Materials’ stock reached an all-time high on Tuesday following the deal with Apple, jumping 28% and surpassing $62 per share as of Tuesday morning. Apple stock was also up 0.5% at the time this article was published.

The agreement between Apple and MP Materials marks yet another positive economic and national security development for President Donald Trump as the White House pushes to break free from reliance on China for rare earth minerals. China currently produces around 60% of the world’s rare earths and refines nearly 90%, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

For decades, MP Materials has operated the only rare earth mine in the United States, which is located in Mountain Pass, California, 60 miles southwest of Las Vegas. Last week, the Trump administration announced the grand opening of the country’s second rare earth mine in Wyoming, where workers at the Brook Mine, owned by Ramaco Resources, Inc., will extract rare earth materials directly from coal.

Shortly after starting his second term, President Trump said that he wants to make the United States “the leading producer and processor of non-fuel minerals, including rare earth minerals.”

After the Pentagon agreed to buy $400 million of preferred stock in MP Materials, the company said it would soon begin construction on a “second domestic magnet manufacturing facility (the ’10X Facility’) at a soon-to-be-chosen location to serve both defense and commercial customers.”