Shares of MP Materials Corp., a rare earth materials company, based out of Las Vegas, Nevada, have doubled in four trading sessions.The stock surged another 20% on Tuesday, June 15, making an intraday high of $62.85. The stock had closed at $30 on July 9. This is also the highest intraday price that the stock has seen since April 2022.
Shares first surged 50% last Friday after the US Department of Defence, or the Pentagon, announced an equity investment worth $400 million in the company. This, along with funds from JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, taking the total to $1 billion, would fund a new major plant that will produce rare-earth magnets.
The investment will make Pentagon the largest shareholder in MP Materials, with a 15% stake. The proposed facility is likely to be commissioned in 2028 and will boost US magnet output to 10,000 tonnes annually.
Rare earth magnets have been a flashpoint in trade negotiations between the US and China, with the latter using its abundant reserves as a negotiation tool against the Trump Administration. Based on the truce reached in Geneva in June, China will begin shipping rare earth magnets at their earlier pace, in return of the US lifting some tech-related curbs imposed on China.China produces 90% of the world’s rare earth magnets, products that are used in cars, wind turbines and fighter aircraft.
Shares first surged 50% last Friday after the US Department of Defence, or the Pentagon, announced an equity investment worth $400 million in the company. This, along with funds from JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, taking the total to $1 billion, would fund a new major plant that will produce rare-earth magnets.
The investment will make Pentagon the largest shareholder in MP Materials, with a 15% stake. The proposed facility is likely to be commissioned in 2028 and will boost US magnet output to 10,000 tonnes annually.
Rare earth magnets have been a flashpoint in trade negotiations between the US and China, with the latter using its abundant reserves as a negotiation tool against the Trump Administration. Based on the truce reached in Geneva in June, China will begin shipping rare earth magnets at their earlier pace, in return of the US lifting some tech-related curbs imposed on China.China produces 90% of the world’s rare earth magnets, products that are used in cars, wind turbines and fighter aircraft.
“The scale of the US commitment underscores the strategic importance of rare earth magnets, and directly counters China’s rare earth dominance,” Jefferies LLC analysts wrote in a note.
The stock surged another 20% overnight after Apple Inc., the manufacturer of iPhones and other products, inked a $500 million deal to buy rare earth magnets from the company.
The two companies will build a factory in Texas, with neodymium magnet manufacturing lines tailored for Apple products, the iPhone maker said Tuesday in a statement.
Shares of MP Materials surged another 5% in extended trading on Wednesday.
First Published: Jul 16, 2025 5:00 AM IS
