MP Materials Independence and 10X

Overview

Independence Runs the Metal-to-Magnet Steps in Fort Worth

MP Materials (NYSE: MP) built Independence, a 200,000-square-foot plant in Hillwood's AllianceTexas development in north Fort Worth, starting in April 2022. Separated neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide comes from Mountain Pass; electrolysis cells reduce it to metal, alloy lines make NdFeB flake, and sintering furnaces, machining and inspection turn the powder into finished magnets.

Commercial NdPr metal production began in January 2025. Magnet production on commercial equipment began in December 2025, General Motors (GM) received qualification magnets by August 2026, and MP expects first commercial shipments in the fourth quarter of 2026. Initial capacity is about 1,000 metric tons of magnets a year, about the volume of GM's contract for its Ultium electric motors, with expansion to about 3,000 metric tons planned.

In the second quarter of 2026, Mountain Pass produced 840 metric tons of NdPr oxide, up 41 percent from a year earlier. MP's first heavy rare earth separation circuit there reached mechanical completion in May 2026, with dysprosium and terbium output planned for later in 2026.

10X Campus

10X in Northlake Supplies a 10-Year Pentagon Offtake

MP announced 10X on February 26, 2026: a campus of more than $1.25 billion on 120 acres inside AllianceTexas in Northlake, Denton County, less than 10 miles from Independence. MP bought the site from Hillwood for about $80 million in the second quarter of 2026, and management called the project "officially vertical" in August, with foundations underway and long-lead equipment on order. Commissioning starts in 2028, and the campus is planned for more than 1,500 manufacturing and engineering jobs.

10X grew out of MP's July 2025 partnership with the Department of War (the Department of Defense). The Pentagon bought $400 million of MP preferred stock, set a 10-year price floor of $110 per kilogram for NdPr, lent $150 million for heavy rare earth separation, and agreed to buy all 10X magnet output for 10 years. MP keeps 10X wholly owned and operated, and plans grain boundary diffusion there to cut dysprosium and terbium use per magnet.

Texas, Denton County and the City of Northlake offered about $200 million in incentives over more than a decade, including more than $66 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) and the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund (TSIF).

Customers

GM, Apple and the Department of War Hold the Output

GM signed with MP in December 2021 as its foundational automotive customer, and the GM contract set Independence's first-phase size. Apple signed a $500 million agreement in July 2025 to buy US-made magnets from Fort Worth starting in 2027, made partly from recycled feedstock processed on a new recycling line at Mountain Pass. The Department of War takes all 10X output under the 10-year offtake.

MP also signed a multiyear gadolinium oxide supply deal with a US aerospace and defense manufacturer in 2026, which management described as a nine-figure agreement.

China

China Controls Most of the Chain Independence Replaces

China produced about 69 percent of the world's mined rare earths in 2025 and processes up to 90 percent, according to GlobalData, and Chinese plants make most of the world's sintered NdFeB magnets. China Northern Rare Earth Group, China Rare Earth Group and magnet makers such as JL Mag Rare-Earth dominate supply. Before Independence, Mountain Pass concentrate went to China for separation and Shenghe Resources was MP's main buyer; MP stopped selling concentrate to China in 2025.

Since April 2025, China's Ministry of Commerce has required licenses to export seven medium and heavy rare earths (samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium) and magnets containing them. A broader October 2025 expansion of the controls is suspended until November 10, 2026. Domestic dysprosium and terbium from Mountain Pass, and from USA Rare Earth's Round Top project in West Texas, are the US answer for the heavy rare earths in high-temperature magnets.

Constraints

Qualification, Heavy Rare Earths and the 10X Schedule

Automotive qualification sets the Independence ramp: GM's vehicle-level testing, batch traceability and quality systems integration must pass before volumes rise, and MP has told investors early magnet results will be uneven. 10X must hire more than 1,500 people with metallurgy and magnet skills that have mostly existed in China, and its high-temperature magnets depend on the Mountain Pass heavy rare earth circuit reaching steady output.

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