# MP Materials starts NdFeB magnet production in Texas with DoD as top shareholder
> Fort Worth 'Independence' facility shipped first magnets December 2025; Q1 2026 NdPr output hit record 917t; Pentagon's $400m equity stake and $110/kg price floor make the US government the underwriter of America's magnet supply

**Meta:** type: story · date: 2026-05-01 · heads: 누구의 돈인가, 장기전 · 7 takes · 3 lenses · 3 regions

## Summary

MP Materials' Independence facility in Fort Worth, Texas commenced commercial production of neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) permanent magnets in December 2025, marking the first US-based magnet manufacturing at scale since the 1990s. In Q1 2026, MP produced 12,983 MT of rare earth oxide at its Mountain Pass mine (up 6% year on year) and a record 917t of neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) metal (up 63% year on year). The Pentagon deepened its stake on July 10, 2025, acquiring $400 million in MP equity and becoming the company's largest shareholder, plus issuing a $150 million Overseas Strategic Credit loan for heavy rare earth separation expansion. A ten-year price-floor mechanism guarantees MP $110/kg for all NdPr products, with DoD compensating any market shortfall and capturing 30% of upside above the benchmark. The planned "10X" expansion at Fort Worth would bring total US magnet capacity to 10,000t/year. China's entity listing of MP Materials on June 22, 2026 did not halt production since MP had already substantially exited Chinese input supply chains.

## The split

Markets initially read the June 22 Chinese entity listing of MP as symbolic and shares rose, validating the China-independent positioning thesis (Motley Fool, Bloomberg). The SFA Oxford metals research perspective focuses on the DoD price-floor mechanism as the more consequential structural change: by making the US government the demand backstop, Washington has essentially guaranteed the economics of domestic rare earth processing for a decade, regardless of where Chinese-controlled NdPr prices trade. Critics, including Columbia SIPA analysts, note that Mountain Pass produces light rare earths but the heavy rare earth separation capacity (dysprosium, terbium) critical for high-temperature magnets is still under construction, meaning the current mine-to-magnet chain remains incomplete for the most defence-critical elements.

## By the numbers

- 917t, NdPr production in Q1 2026 at Mountain Pass (record, up 63% year on year).
- 12,983t, total rare earth oxide produced Q1 2026 (up 6% year on year).
- 1,000t/year, projected NdFeB magnet capacity at Fort Worth Independence facility once ramped.
- 10,000t/year, target magnet capacity after "10X" expansion.
- $400m, DoD equity investment in MP Materials (July 2025).
- $150m, OSCP loan for heavy rare earth separation expansion.
- $110/kg, NdPr price floor guaranteed by DoD for 10 years.
- June 22, 2026, date China listed MP Materials on its export-control entity list.

## Why it matters

MP Materials is the only operating rare earth mine in the United States and is now the only US-based NdFeB magnet producer. The vertical integration from mine to magnet, backed by a government price floor, directly addresses the dependency that [China's export-control regime](/ko/n/china-rare-earth-controls) has exploited since April 2025. However, the facility remains small relative to Chinese magnet output, which stands at roughly 90% of the global high-performance magnet market. The DoD price floor model is now being studied by allied governments as a template for securing other critical mineral supply chains, per the [US price-floor framework with allies](/ko/n/us-minerals-price-floor-allies).

## What to watch

- Fort Worth production ramp: whether 1,000t/year nameplate is reached in 2026 or slips to 2027.
- Heavy rare earth separation expansion at Mountain Pass: timeline and scale for dysprosium/terbium processing.
- Whether the DoD price floor triggers actual compensation payments if NdPr stays above $110/kg (which it was in Q1 2026).
- The "10X" expansion financing and permitting timeline.

## Regional takes (batched by bias / lens)

### unlabelled
- **MP Materials Corp (SEC Form 8-K, Q1 2026 Earnings)** (United States, en) — Primary filing: Q1 2026 earnings. MP produced 12,983 MT of rare earth oxide (REO), up 6% year on year; NdPr production reached a record 917 metric tons, up 63% year on year. Fort Worth Independence facility commenced commercial NdFeB magnet manufacturing in December 2025.
  Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001801368/000180136826000027/mpmcq12026er.htm
- **MP Materials (company press release)** (United States, en) — Primary release on the DoD public-private partnership: $400 million DoD equity investment making DoD the largest MP shareholder; $150 million Overseas Private Credit Corp (OSCP) loan for heavy rare earth separation capacity at Mountain Pass; ten-year price-floor mechanism guaranteeing $110/kg for all NdPr products sold or stockpiled, with the DoD compensating any shortfall and capturing 30% of upside above the benchmark.
  Source: https://mpmaterials.com/news/mp-materials-announces-transformational-public-private-partnership-with-the-department-of-defense-to-accelerate-u-s-rare-earth-magnet-independence/
- **FTI Consulting** (United States, en) — 
  Source: https://www.fticonsulting.com/insights/articles/lender-market-maker-us-critical-minerals-playbook
- **FAS (Federation of American Scientists)** (United States, en) — 
  Source: https://fas.org/publication/unpacking-dod-and-mp-partnership/
- **Simply Wall St** (Global, en) — 
  Source: https://simplywall.st/community/narratives/us/materials/nyse-mp/mp-materials/qoq0qqz3-mp-materials-mp-the-rare-earth-fortress-and-the-mine-to-magnet-transition

### US business media
- **CNBC** (United States, en) — Reports the selection of Fort Worth, Texas as the site for MP's Independence magnet facility, noting the planned scale-up to 1,000t of finished NdFeB magnets annually from the current commissioning phase; details a future '10X' expansion to 7,000t/year magnet capacity, bringing total to 10,000t/year.
  > "MP Materials selects Texas for rare earth magnet manufacturing site, with ambitions for a 10,000-tonne-per-year 'mine-to-magnet' supply chain."
  Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/26/mp-materials-selects-texas-for-rare-earth-magnet-manufacturing-site.html

### metals-research
- **SFA Oxford** (United Kingdom, en) — Analyses the DoD-MP deal structure in detail, noting that the $110/kg NdPr price floor effectively de-risks the entire capital investment, and compares the approach to the Cold War-era National Defense Stockpile model but applied to a vertically integrated commercial producer rather than a government warehouse.
  > "The $110/kg price floor effectively de-risks MP's capital stack, making DoD the backstop for the entire US magnet supply chain."
  Source: https://www.sfa-oxford.com/market-news-and-insights/sfa-pentagon-and-mp-materials-forge-u-s-ree-independence/

## Across the graph
- Related: [[china-rare-earth-controls]], [[lynas-texas-limbo]], [[ndpr-price-surge-2026]], [[us-minerals-price-floor-allies]]
- Entities: Mp Materials, Rare Earth Magnets, Neodymium

---
Canonical: https://rbtfl.xyz/ko/n/mp-materials-magnet-ramp