Apple has announced a deal with MP Minerals to support the production of rare-earth minerals to be used in smartphones and other devices.
The $500 million deal supports Apple’s pledge to invest $500 billion in the United States throughout President Donald Trump’s second term and “builds on the company’s long history of investment in American innovation, advanced manufacturing, and next-generation recycling technologies,” the company said.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement that American innovation “drives everything we do at Apple, and we’re proud to deepen our investment in the U.S. economy. He explained that rare earth materials are “essential for making advanced technology, and this partnership will help strengthen the supply of these vital materials here in the United States. We couldn’t be more excited about the future of American manufacturing, and we will continue to invest in the ingenuity, creativity, and innovative spirit of the American people.”
The agreement surrounds MP Materials’ Fort Worth, Texas, facility. According to Apple, the “new equipment and technical capacity will allow MP Materials to significantly boost its overall production” and will then be “shipped across the country and all over the world, helping to meet increasing global demand for the material.”
“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 has also reached a “transformational public-private partnership” with the Defense Department to “dramatically accelerate the build-out of an end-to-end U.S. rare earth magnet supply chain and reduce foreign dependency,” the company announced last week.
