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The investment was led by SoftBank Vision Fund’s former leader, who is placing bets across the magnet supply chain

Texas rare-earth magnet maker Noveon Magnetics has raised $215 million from investors as the U.S. pushes to develop domestic sources of a vital electronics component that China, the world’s largest supplier, has under a chokehold.

One of the few U.S. rare-earth magnet makers, Noveon is riding a wave of urgency stemming from a U.S. trade war with China that has put once-obscure critical minerals into sharp focus. The San Marcos, Texas-based company, started in 2014, began delivering magnets only in the past two years and is now vying to supply the array of American industries that need magnets.

The raise—which is roughly double all of Noveon’s prior venture-capital funding—comes mostly from One Investment Management, the investment firm of Rajeev Misra, the former long-running leader of SoftBank Group’s mammoth Vision Fund. The firm put in $200 million, and the remaining $15 million comes from existing investors, said Noveon Chief Executive Scott Dunn, who declined to provide the company’s valuation. With the investment, One Investment Management becomes the largest shareholder and gets two board seats.

Last year, venture capitalists invested $630 million in U.S. critical-mineral startups, the highest level recorded, according to data provider PitchBook.

Beijing in April countered Washington’s tariffs with export controls on rare earths, including those used to make the magnets required for missile defense systems, submarines, data centers, jet fighters, drones and electric vehicles. The new measures required Chinese exporters of certain crucial rare earths to first apply for permission, giving Beijing the ability to hold up or block sales.

The restrictions fell like a hammer on U.S. industries: Exports plunged, and companies were forced to pause production, delay sales and scramble for alternative sources, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

It was a manufactured crisis that Dunn had predicted over a decade ago while working inside China’s magnet-making businesses. He and his co-founder spent a few years in factories across China—which supplies 92% of the world’s rare-earth magnets—to learn the trade and study the supply chain.

“You just have to go where something is if you really want to be serious about it,” Dunn said. “This industry really is a case of all roads lead to China.”

Noveon became the first company to reshore full-scale magnet-making in the U.S. It spent several more years building a factory, hiring and training a workforce, and trying to convince customers to buy Noveon’s magnets, not China’s. It gets rare earths from Australia, partners with a refiner in Europe and has developed a process for sintering, molding and finishing the magnets.

“It is really complicated, it is really capital intensive, it is not easy to course-correct,” Dunn said. Sourcing all of his materials from outside China meant paying a premium. “You have to wonder if the thing you are doing makes sense,” he said. Noveon has received almost $40 million in federal grants from prior administrations, including pandemic-era funding.

The current Trump administration has underscored the importance of American-made magnets with $670 million in loans and equity investment to North Carolina-based rare-earths magnet startup Vulcan Elements and another $80 million for Indiana-based ReElement Technologies, which recycles rare-earth elements. The Pentagon took a 15% stake in rare-earths mining company MP Materials, which is building a new magnet factory in Texas.

A group of lawmakers last week proposed a $2.5 billion reserve to stockpile supplies of critical minerals, including rare earths such as those used in magnets.

“It is like ‘operation landing on the moon’ in the Kennedy days,” said Misra. “It has that sense of urgency in Washington.”

His firm also backed Vulcan Elements, believing “the U.S. needs three or four magnet makers,” Misra said. “The U.S. is doing a catch-up here.” He said his firm has made several other investments in the magnet supply chain that it will announce over the next four months.

The Vision Fund, under Misra’s leadership, often invested heavily in direct competitors in the same sector, the Journal has reported.

Dunn said Noveon is on track to produce more than 2,000 tons of magnets a year, about 5% of the current U.S. demand. China can produce about 400,000 tons a year, at least 40% more than total global demand.

The investment was led by SoftBank Vision Fund’s former leader, who is placing bets across the magnet supply chain

Noveon Magnetics, a U.S. rare-earth magnet maker, secured $215 million in funding, primarily from One Investment Management, to boost domestic production.

Venture capitalists invested $630 million in U.S. critical-mineral startups last year in response to China’s rare-earth export controls.

Noveon aims to produce over 2,000 tons of magnets annually, meeting approximately 5% of current U.S. demand, while China has the capacity to produce 400,000 tons.

Texas rare-earth magnet maker Noveon Magnetics has raised $215 million from investors as the U.S. pushes to develop domestic sources of a vital electronics component that China, the world’s largest supplier, has under a chokehold.

One of the few U.S. rare-earth magnet makers, Noveon is riding a wave of urgency stemming from a U.S. trade war with China that has put once-obscure critical minerals into sharp focus. The San Marcos, Texas-based company, started in 2014, began delivering magnets only in the past two years and is now vying to supply the array of American industries that need magnets.

The raise—which is roughly double all of Noveon’s prior venture-capital funding—comes mostly from One Investment Management, the investment firm of Rajeev Misra, the former long-running leader of SoftBank Group’s mammoth Vision Fund. The firm put in $200 million, and the remaining $15 million comes from existing investors, said Noveon Chief Executive Scott Dunn, who declined to provide the company’s valuation. With the investment, One Investment Management becomes the largest shareholder and gets two board seats.

Last year, venture capitalists invested $630 million in U.S. critical-mineral startups, the highest level recorded, according to data provider PitchBook.

Beijing in April countered Washington’s tariffs with export controls on rare earths, including those used to make the magnets required for missile defense systems, submarines, data centers, jet fighters, drones and electric vehicles. The new measures required Chinese exporters of certain crucial rare earths to first apply for permission, giving Beijing the ability to hold up or block sales.

The restrictions fell like a hammer on U.S. industries: Exports plunged, and companies were forced to pause production, delay sales and scramble for alternative sources, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

It was a manufactured crisis that Dunn had predicted over a decade ago while working inside China’s magnet-making businesses. He and his co-founder spent a few years in factories across China—which supplies 92% of the world’s rare-earth magnets—to learn the trade and study the supply chain.

“You just have to go where something is if you really want to be serious about it,” Dunn said. “This industry really is a case of all roads lead to China.”

Noveon became the first company to reshore full-scale magnet-making in the U.S. It spent several more years building a factory, hiring and training a workforce, and trying to convince customers to buy Noveon’s magnets, not China’s. It gets rare earths from Australia, partners with a refiner in Europe and has developed a process for sintering, molding and finishing the magnets.

“It is really complicated, it is really capital intensive, it is not easy to course-correct,” Dunn said. Sourcing all of his materials from outside China meant paying a premium. “You have to wonder if the thing you are doing makes sense,” he said. Noveon has received almost $40 million in federal grants from prior administrations, including pandemic-era funding.

The current Trump administration has underscored the importance of American-made magnets with $670 million in loans and equity investment to North Carolina-based rare-earths magnet startup Vulcan Elements and another $80 million for Indiana-based ReElement Technologies, which recycles rare-earth elements. The Pentagon took a 15% stake in rare-earths mining company MP Materials, which is building a new magnet factory in Texas.

A group of lawmakers last week proposed a $2.5 billion reserve to stockpile supplies of critical minerals, including rare earths such as those used in magnets.

“It is like ‘operation landing on the moon’ in the Kennedy days,” said Misra. “It has that sense of urgency in Washington.”

His firm also backed Vulcan Elements, believing “the U.S. needs three or four magnet makers,” Misra said. “The U.S. is doing a catch-up here.” He said his firm has made several other investments in the magnet supply chain that it will announce over the next four months.

The Vision Fund, under Misra’s leadership, often invested heavily in direct competitors in the same sector, the Journal has reported.

Dunn said Noveon is on track to produce more than 2,000 tons of magnets a year, about 5% of the current U.S. demand. China can produce about 400,000 tons a year, at least 40% more than total global demand.

A rebound in Chinese demand helped drive better-than-expected orders and sales

ASM International ASM 0.29%increase; green up pointing triangle posted better-than-expected orders and sales for the fourth quarter following a rebound in its China business and strong demand from customers seeking to produce the integrated circuits that power smartphones, computers and other electronic devices.

The Dutch company, which supplies chip makers with tools for the deposition of thin films, said orders climbed to roughly 800 million euros ($928.6 million) in the fourth quarter from 731.4 million euros a year earlier. The figure, which the group said is preliminary, is well above company expectations of slightly above 636.8 million euros recorded in the third quarter.

A rebound in orders from China toward the end of the quarter and solid bookings from logic and foundry customers—those from customers seeking to produce the integrated circuits that power smartphones, computers and other electronic devices—led to the better-than-expected figure, according to the company.

The announcement comes days after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., 2330 1.15%increase; green up pointing triangle the world’s largest contract chip maker and a key buyer of semiconductor-making equipment, set out record spending plans for the year.

Investors in semiconductor-making equipment suppliers like ASM International and its larger rival ASML Holding welcomed growing spending plans from a client of TSMC’s stature since higher capital expenditure raises expectations that TSMC will need to purchase more semiconductor-making machines to satisfy demand from its own customers, including Nvidia and Apple.

ASM International’s stock is up more than 30% since the year began. However, shares are flat on Monday as markets react to President Trump’s plans to impose 10% tariffs on imports from several European countries in an effort to pressure Denmark to sell Greenland to the U.S.

UBS analysts wrote in a note to clients that strength in advanced logic and foundry orders was expected considering TSMC’s recent statements, but the timing is more of a surprise.

“The commentary around stronger orders from China will likely catch the market off guard, given prevailing concerns about local competition and prior company statements hinting at a substantial revenue drop in China,” they said. ASM said in October that it was forecasting a double-digit decline in Chinese sales this year.

The company said revenue in the fourth quarter fell to 698 million euros from 809 million euros a year earlier, but it still exceeded company guidance between 630 million euros and 660 million euros.

ASM said it expects revenue at constant currencies to show a healthy increase in the current quarter compared to the fourth quarter. The company is scheduled to post a full set of fourth-quarter results on March 3.

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The president’s push to acquire Greenland threatens higher prices for luxury imports

President Trump’s threatened 10% tariffs on several European allies in an effort to pressure Denmark into selling Greenland to the U.S. would likely hit a range of luxury and specialty goods.

Among the beloved consumer products that get shipped across the Atlantic: French wines and cheeses, Norwegian salmon, and Bang & Olufsen speakers, assembled in Denmark. (Another Danish favorite, Legos, are manufactured in Mexico and other parts of the world, according to the company.)

Other well-known brands potentially affected by the tariffs include: Leica, Louis Vuitton, Le Creuset and Hermès, each of which keeps much of its core production in Europe.

In a weekend announcement, Trump said goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland would be subject to 10% tariffs starting Feb. 1, rising to 25% on June 1.

A lot remains uncertain, however. Trump didn’t specify whether the tariffs would be added on top of existing tariffs—currently 15% for most goods from the European Union and 10% for most U.K. products. His administration agreed to those base levels as part of multibillion-dollar trade and investment deals over the past year.

Also unclear: the legal authority under which Trump would impose the tariffs. The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to rule any day on whether many of Trump’s tariffs were imposed improperly last year.

Beyond consumer goods, Europe is a key supplier of high-value manufactured goods. Germany is known for Volkswagens, Audis and Porsches; Sweden for Volvos; and France for Airbus airplanes. While many parts are sourced globally, final assembly and precision engineering frequently remain on the continent.

The U.S. also imports significant quantities of pharmaceuticals from Europe. Companies in the drug sector have been bracing for tariffs since the administration threatened last year to impose duties of up to 100% on name-brand drugs. During the Covid pandemic, the U.S. imported vaccines manufactured in Belgium and Germany.