Building rare-earth processing resilience outside China

Can countries reduce dependence on Chinese materials, expand production, and keep costs low in peacetime?

The key is building non-Chinese processing through tax incentives, protected firms, or state-owned capacity maintained for wartime resilience.

The November 2025 assessment locates China's principal rare-earth advantage in processing capacity and its influence over prices. Deposits elsewhere do not by themselves create a commercially viable competing supply chain. Tax relief is one proposed way to reduce the cost of establishing new processing. Another is a company with government incentives and a protected ownership structure, such as a golden share that prevents its sale. Direct state ownership is also considered, with commercial sales in peacetime helping sustain capacity reserved for wartime needs. These approaches differ in how much responsibility the government assumes for keeping the supply available.