July 14, 2025 at 9:00 pm ET
2025 年 7 月 14 日东部时间晚上 9 点
FORT WORTH—At an industrial site in this Texas city, men dressed in head-to-toe protective gear dip giant ladles into a well of molten metal heated to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. They’re making something the U.S. has hardly, if ever, produced at commercial scale in recent decades: rare-earth metals.
沃思堡——在这座德州城市的工业区，身着全身防护装备的工人将巨型钢包浸入加热至 1800 华氏度（约 982 摄氏度）的金属熔池。他们正在生产美国近几十年来几乎从未实现商业化量产的物资：稀土金属。
The factory is the most visible mark of MP Materials’ MP 7.56%increase; green up pointing triangle high-stakes, billion-dollar bet that an American company can take on China’s dominance over the metals—and the magnets they power in everything from cars and smartphones to missile systems.
这座工厂是 MP Materials 公司（股票代码 MP，涨幅 7.56%）最具标志性的投资印记——这家美国企业正押注数十亿美元豪赌，试图打破中国对稀土金属及其衍生磁体的垄断地位。这些关键材料广泛应用于从汽车、智能手机到导弹系统的各个领域。
In recent months, China has used its chokehold over 90% of the world’s rare-earth magnets to cut off access to Western companies, rattling industrial giants such as Ford and Tesla and forcing the U.S. to the table for trade talks.
近几个月来，中国利用其对全球 90%稀土磁体的垄断地位，切断了西方企业的供应渠道，令福特和特斯拉等工业巨头陷入恐慌，并迫使美国回到贸易谈判桌前。
MP has invested more than $1 billion in new infrastructure and equipment. A mine it controls in California has become the largest source of rare-earth minerals in the Western Hemisphere. Now, with its expanding Texas facility and fresh investment from the Pentagon, the company is racing to complete the supply chain so it can start converting large quantities of its minerals into high-grade magnets.
MP 公司已投资逾 10 亿美元用于新建基础设施和设备。其控制的加利福尼亚矿区已成为西半球最大的稀土来源。如今，随着德克萨斯州工厂的扩建和五角大楼的新投资，该公司正争分夺秒完善供应链，以期将大量稀土原料转化为高品级磁体。
General Motors is signed up to start taking deliveries later this year. The Defense Department last week committed to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in MP and become its largest shareholder, in a deal that will allow MP to increase its planned magnet production to 10,000 metric tons from the previously planned 1,000. As of now, the name of the new factory is simply “10x.”
通用汽车已签约将于今年晚些时候开始接收产品。美国国防部上周承诺向 MP 注资数亿美元并成为其最大股东，这笔交易将使 MP 的磁体计划年产量从原先的 1000 公吨提升至 1 万公吨。目前，这座新工厂的代号仅为"10 倍扩产"。
A White House spokesman said the deal “marks a major step in rebuilding America’s domestic rare earth industry.” The company’s stock jumped around 50% on the day of the announcement, and has tripled this year. Some rivals also gained.
白宫发言人表示，该协议"标志着重建美国本土稀土产业迈出重要一步"。消息公布当天该公司股价飙升约 50%，年内涨幅已达三倍。部分竞争对手股价也同步上涨。
稀土磁体为从手机、汽车到核潜艇等各类设备提供动力。目前全球几乎所有的稀土磁体都产自中国。图片来源：Trevor Paulhus/WSJ
After years of private and government investment under Trump and Biden, magnet-makers are expanding across the U.S. in an effort to build an industrial base that could meet soaring demand independently of China.
在特朗普和拜登两届政府多年来的民间及政府投资推动下，美国各地磁体制造商正积极扩张，旨在建立不依赖中国的产业基础以满足激增的市场需求。
Substantially cutting America’s dependence on Chinese rare-earth magnets won’t be easy, or cheap. But some experts posit it could theoretically be achieved within three to five years, if the current slate of projects push ahead.
要实质性削减美国对中国稀土磁体的依赖并非易事，代价也不菲。但部分专家认为，若当前项目能持续推进，理论上可在三至五年内实现这一目标。
Vulcan Elements, a Durham, N.C.-based magnet maker founded by a former Navy officer, plans to supply the military starting next year. Noveon, in San Marcos, Texas, has signed a deal to supply U.S.-made rare-earth magnets to Japan’s Nidec, among the world’s biggest motor makers. German magnet specialist VAC is expected to begin operating a large, Pentagon-funded factory near Sumter, S.C., later this year.
总部位于北卡罗来纳州达勒姆的磁铁制造商 Vulcan Elements 由前海军军官创立，计划从明年开始向军方供货。德克萨斯州圣马科斯的 Noveon 公司已签署协议，将向全球最大电机制造商之一日本电产供应美国产稀土磁铁。德国磁铁专业企业 VAC 预计将于今年晚些时候在南卡罗来纳州萨姆特附近启动由五角大楼资助的大型工厂运营。
The projects are expected to have a combined capacity to produce several thousand metric tons of the magnets by the end of the year, which adds up to around a third or more of current U.S. imports.
这些项目预计到年底将形成合计数千吨的磁铁产能，相当于当前美国进口量的三分之一以上。
“As we start to build out our permanent magnet manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and elsewhere, China starts to lose that leverage,” said Gracelin Baskaran, director of the critical minerals security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.
"随着我们开始在美国及其他地区建设永磁体制造设施，中国将逐渐丧失这种优势，"华盛顿特区战略与国际研究中心关键矿物安全项目主任格雷斯林·巴斯克兰表示。
MP 正通过其沃斯堡工厂筹备商业规模生产磁铁。 Trevor Paulhus for WSJ (2)
特雷弗·保罗休斯/华尔街日报(2)
MP, she added, is “essentially working at warp speed to address one of America’s greatest national and economic security challenges of our time.”
她补充说，MP 公司"正以近乎曲速的进度工作，致力于解决我们这个时代美国面临的最重大国家与经济安全挑战之一。"
The company’s journey there highlights the hurdles American producers face as they look to reawaken the industry.
该公司的历程凸显了美国生产商在试图重振该行业时面临的障碍。
Chinese dominance 中国主导地位
China still holds most of the rare-earth cards. It has some of the world’s best mines. It also has cheap chemicals for processing, a large technically trained workforce and a stomach for handling toxic rare-earth mining waste.
中国仍掌握着稀土领域的大部分优势。它拥有全球最优质的稀土矿藏之一，还具备廉价的加工化学品、大量技术熟练的劳动力，以及处理有毒稀土开采废料的承受能力。
Western producers have long complained that the country uses its dominance to prevent competitors from emerging, sometimes by flooding the market with supplies, sometimes by adopting restrictive export policies. Beijing has banned the export of key rare-earth technologies and is compiling a list of China’s rare-earth scientists to ensure they don’t share their knowledge abroad.
长期以来，西方生产商一直抱怨中国利用其主导地位阻止竞争对手崛起，有时通过大量供应充斥市场，有时采取限制性出口政策。北京已禁止出口关键稀土技术，并正在编制中国稀土科学家名单，以确保他们不会向海外分享专业知识。
For some companies, finding another source has become critical.
对一些企业而言，寻找替代供应源已成为当务之急。
Mining 采矿环节
60%
Refining 精炼环节
91%
Magnet making* 磁铁制造*
94%
In April, China began requiring buyers of rare-earth magnets to submit elaborate export applications proving they don’t have military links. The slow processing of these applications forced a Ford SUV plant to temporarily close and sent the wider industry into a panic. One auto supplier paid more than $15 a piece for tiny magnets that usually sell for less than 40 cents, according to a trader familiar with the transaction.
今年四月，中国开始要求稀土磁铁买家提交详尽的出口申请，以证明其不涉及军事用途。由于审批流程缓慢，导致福特汽车一家 SUV 工厂被迫暂时停产，并引发整个行业恐慌。据熟悉交易情况的贸易商透露，某汽车供应商为通常售价不足 40 美分的小型磁铁支付了每块超过 15 美元的高价。
“We cannot get any high-power magnets without China,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said at an event in late June.
"没有中国，我们根本拿不到任何高性能磁铁，"福特汽车首席执行官吉姆·法利在六月底的一场活动中表示。
Although U.S.-China trade negotiations have led to two separate truces that were supposed to make magnet supplies flow again, exports from China have remained lower than anticipated, especially to defense suppliers.
尽管美中贸易谈判达成了两轮临时停战协议，本应恢复磁铁供应，但中国出口量始终低于预期，尤其对国防供应商的出口更是如此。
Some U.S. companies have said they are willing to pay a premium for supply-chain security. They may have to. MP and other emerging suppliers don’t disclose the price of their magnets, but people involved in the industry say they are likely to be, at a minimum, 50% more expensive to produce than China’s.
部分美国企业表示愿意为供应链安全支付溢价。他们可能不得不这样做。MP 材料和其他新兴供应商虽未公开磁铁价格，但业内人士透露其生产成本至少比中国高出 50%。
在获得五角大楼新一轮投资后，MP 公司宣布将把原计划的磁铁产量提升至原先规划的十倍。 Trevor Paulhus for WSJ (2)
特雷弗·保罗休斯/华尔街日报(2)
A rare opportunity 一个难得的机遇
The U.S. has significant underground reserves of rare earths, 17 little-known minerals such as neodymium and samarium. Magnets made from the metals are especially strong, able to attract objects hundreds of times their own weight. But mining and processing the minerals is complex and expensive. The country’s once-thriving industry collapsed in the 1990s and 2000s, unable to compete with China.
美国拥有丰富的地下稀土资源储备，包括钕、钐等 17 种鲜为人知的矿物质。这些金属制成的磁体尤为强劲，能吸附数百倍于自身重量的物体。但开采和加工这些矿物既复杂又昂贵。该国一度繁荣的稀土产业在 20 世纪 90 年代至 21 世纪初走向衰落，无法与中国竞争。
A few companies tried at various points to revive it and push into magnet-making. Most failed, incurring big losses for investors. Some in the industry concluded that without government support it was too difficult to beat Chinese prices.
曾有数家公司试图重振稀土产业并进军磁铁制造领域，但大多以失败告终，令投资者蒙受巨额损失。业内部分人士得出结论：若无政府支持，要与中国价格竞争实在困难。
MP co-founders James Litinsky and Michael Rosenthal got into the business almost by accident.
MP 公司联合创始人詹姆斯·利廷斯基和迈克尔·罗森塔尔几乎是偶然进入这个行业的。
Since the middle of the 20th century, rare earths had been dug from Mountain Pass, a rich deposit in California’s Mojave Desert that for decades dominated global production.
自 20 世纪中叶以来，稀土一直从加州莫哈韦沙漠的富矿——芒廷帕斯开采，该矿数十年来主导着全球产量。
Molycorp, the previous company to run the mine, went bankrupt in 2015 after a surge in Chinese rare-earth exports tanked prices. Litinsky and Rosenthal, childhood friends with backgrounds in finance, had invested in Molycorp bonds, hoping to turn a profit. Few others wanted the mine, and the pair worried that a key strategic asset would be abandoned. In 2017 they gained control of Mountain Pass.
此前运营该矿场的莫利矿业公司因中国稀土出口激增导致价格暴跌，于 2015 年破产。拥有金融背景的发小利廷斯基和罗森塔尔曾投资莫利矿业债券以期获利。当时几乎无人想要这座矿场，两人担心这一关键战略资产会被废弃。2017 年他们获得了芒廷帕斯的控制权。
“There was a belief that it couldn’t be fixed,” said Litinsky, MP’s chief executive.
"当时人们普遍认为这个矿场没救了，"MP 公司首席执行官利廷斯基说。
莫哈韦沙漠的芒廷帕斯矿是西半球最大的稀土矿藏来源。但在 2017 年，几乎无人问津这座矿山。Bridget Bennett for WSJ (2)
《华尔街日报》布里奇特·本内特摄(2)
He had gotten rich as a young man, after founding a successful Chicago hedge fund at the age of 28, but was looking for a new challenge. “I certainly didn’t know what I was getting myself into.”
他在 28 岁时创立了一家成功的芝加哥对冲基金，年轻时便已致富，但正寻求新的挑战。"我当时确实不知道自己将面临什么。"
MP needed to generate money, and fast, but Litinsky and Rosenthal encountered a bottleneck. Once the ore is mined, it has to undergo a complex process to separate the rare earths from the rock and then isolate the individual minerals. Almost no one outside of China knew how to do that at affordable prices.
MP 材料公司急需快速盈利，但利廷斯基和罗森塔尔遇到了瓶颈。矿石开采后，需经过复杂工序将稀土从岩石中分离，再提纯出单一矿物。当时在中国境外，几乎无人掌握低成本实现这一工艺的技术。
Hiring was difficult; the mine had just eight workers—and a lot of wild donkeys—on a remote site that today sits near a billboard with an alien dressed in a cowboy hat advertising beef jerky.
招聘工作困难重重；矿场地处偏远，如今附近立着一块广告牌，画着戴牛仔帽的外星人推销牛肉干，而当时现场只有八名工人——以及许多野驴。
“We’ve got no money, we’ve got eight people, the site was bankrupt, everyone says the U.S. can’t make rare earths,” said Rosenthal, the company’s operations chief. “We couldn’t go to an engineer and say ‘Want to leave Rio Tinto to join us?’”
"我们没钱，只有八个人，矿场破产了，所有人都说美国造不出稀土，"公司运营主管罗森塔尔说。"我们不可能去跟工程师说'想离开力拓加入我们吗？'"
MP struck an agreement with a Chinese rare-earth company, Shenghe Resources, to provide upfront financing, in exchange for a small stake in MP. Shenghe would then sell MP’s ore to buyers in China, who refined it and then created magnets
MP 与中国稀土企业盛和资源达成协议，由后者提供前期资金，换取 MP 少量股权。盛和随后将 MP 的矿石销售给中国买家，由他们进行精炼并制成磁铁。
As MP got on firmer footing, it used the money it earned from the arrangement to start building its own processing operations. The Pentagon started chipping in grants that came to around $100 million.
随着 MP 站稳脚跟，它利用这笔交易获得的资金开始建立自己的加工作业。五角大楼也开始提供总计约 1 亿美元的资助。
在帕斯山，MP 公司从矿物提取到精炼全程包办。这一过程相当复杂。 Bridget Bennett for WSJ (2)
美国最大稀土生产商力图终结中国主导地位——《华尔街日报》
Steep learning curve 陡峭的学习曲线
Although MP’s initial processing operations removed rare earths from the rest of the ore, the company still had to separate out the individual elements, each of which is nearly chemically identical. Rosenthal likened the challenge to designing a chemical process to sort out blue M&Ms from the rest of the M&Ms, and then extracting the cocoa from those candies. 重试 错误原因
MP built up a plant in California filled with giant vats, called settler-mixers, that gradually winnow out the most valuable rare earths needed in magnets. 重试 错误原因
1
2
Ore with rare-earth 含有稀土元素的矿石
elements is mined 矿石经过开采
Waste is separated 废弃物被分离
from minerals 从矿物中提取
4
3
5
6
Oxides are turned into metals
氧化物被转化为金属
Metals are combined to create alloys and magnets
金属结合形成合金与磁体
7
Those magnets can be used in a motor
这些磁体可用于电机制造
and then installed in an automobile
然后安装在汽车上
By 2023, it was the only U.S. company separating rare earths at commercial scale, allowing it to bypass Chinese refiners and start selling directly to buyers in the U.S., Japan and South Korea.
到 2023 年，它成为美国唯一实现商业规模稀土分离的企业，得以绕过中国精炼商，直接向美国、日本和韩国的买家供货。
It is now expanding to separate another class of rare earths: strategically important heavy rare earths, which MP has been stockpiling at its mine.
该公司目前正扩大业务，着手分离另一类具有战略意义的重稀土元素——这些重稀土元素 MP 公司一直在其矿山进行储备。
Despite the progress, the company struggled to stay consistently profitable.
尽管取得进展，该公司仍难以保持持续盈利。
Starting in 2022, a surplus in Chinese rare earths tanked global prices, part of a pattern of Chinese overproduction of critical minerals including nickel, lithium and cobalt that has forced out Western miners around the globe. As prices kept dropping, investors lost patience. MP’s stock crumbled to a fifth of its previous highs.
自 2022 年起，中国稀土产量过剩导致全球价格暴跌，这是中国在镍、锂、钴等关键矿产上过度生产的连锁反应之一，已迫使全球多地西方矿商退出市场。随着价格持续下跌，投资者失去耐心，MP 公司股价跌至此前高点的五分之一。
“I don’t like to be betting behind losing horses,” CNBC analyst Jim Cramer said last year.
"我不喜欢把赌注押在输家身上，"CNBC 分析师吉姆·克莱默去年表示。
如何分离稀土曾是一大难题。如今，MP 材料公司计划尝试开采另一类矿物——重稀土，这些资源已在其矿山中储备。 Bridget Bennett for WSJ (2)
美国最大稀土生产商力图终结中国主导地位——《华尔街日报》
Litinsky believed the company’s strategic importance would at some point translate into financial results. But the company still needed to learn how to actually make magnets, as opposed to just processing the ore and sending the minerals to others.
利廷斯基相信公司的战略价值终将转化为财务成果。但企业仍需学习如何真正制造磁体，而非仅仅加工矿石并将矿物转售他人。
First, they’d need to find the people who could help them.
首要任务是找到能助其一臂之力的人才。
Magnetic flux 磁通量
Since rare-earth magnets are hardly made in the U.S. anymore, many of the people with commercial experience are in their 60s and 70s. MP scoured the world for technical talent, netting an executive with experience at a European magnet factory and others with backgrounds at magnet material companies outside of China.
由于美国已基本不再生产稀土磁体，许多具备商业经验的人士都已六七十岁高龄。MP Materials 在全球范围内搜寻技术人才，最终招募了一位拥有欧洲磁体工厂经验的高管，以及其他几位在中国境外磁体材料公司工作过的专业人士。
To lead the project, the company hired Alan Lund, a metallurgist who had run a company developing high-performance metal alloys.
为领导该项目，公司聘请了冶金学家艾伦·伦德，他曾经营一家开发高性能金属合金的公司。
Lund was determined to find an anchor customer that would commit to a long-term sales contract. It turned out to be GM, which had analyzed its supply-chain vulnerabilities after Covid-induced shocks and wanted more options.
伦德决心寻找一个愿意签订长期销售合同的支柱客户。最终通用汽车成为了这个客户——在新冠疫情冲击导致供应链脆弱性显现后，该公司分析了自身供应链弱点并希望获得更多选择。
The next hurdle was finding production equipment for its Fort Worth factory. MP didn’t want to buy in China, the main producer of magnet-making machinery, afraid that Beijing could hold up shipments. That meant seeking out suppliers of tools such as jet mills and furnaces in North America and Europe.
下一个障碍是为其沃斯堡工厂寻找生产设备。MP Materials 不愿从主要磁体制造机械生产国中国采购，担心北京方面可能扣留货物。这意味着他们需要在北美和欧洲寻找喷射磨机和熔炉等设备的供应商。
在沃斯堡工厂，熔融金属温度高达 1800 华氏度，工人们必须穿戴从头到脚的银色防护装备。 Trevor Paulhus for WSJ (2)
特雷弗·保罗休斯/华尔街日报(2)
The equipment was more expensive and sometimes required a nearly two-year lead time. But MP’s decisions looked prescient in 2023, when China began expanding export controls to include magnet-production equipment.
设备价格更为昂贵，有时需要近两年的交付周期。但 MP 公司的决策在 2023 年显现出前瞻性——当时中国开始将磁体生产设备纳入出口管制范围。
MP also had to master the arcane engineering skills needed to make top-quality magnets, including grain boundary diffusion. That process, often abbreviated as GBD, is a way to apply the most expensive materials in a targeted way on the magnet, dramatically lowering the cost.
MP 还必须掌握包括晶界扩散技术在内的尖端工艺，以制造顶级磁体。这种常被简称为 GBD 的工艺，能将最昂贵的材料精准施加于磁体特定部位，从而大幅降低成本。
China is good at it; few others are.
中国精于此道，其他国家却鲜有掌握。
Long before breaking ground in Fort Worth, MP assembled a dedicated team at a small industrial space dubbed “the Garage”—and sometimes called “Bobcat”—to pore over scientific literature and crack the magnet code. Over several years, the company tested different formulations, eventually developing a heavy rare-earth composition that used GBD, and a customized method that gave magnets a consistent coating.
早在沃斯堡建厂前，MP 公司就在一个绰号"车库"（有时也称"山猫"）的小型工业场地组建了专项团队，他们钻研科学文献以破解磁体技术密码。经过数年测试不同配方，最终开发出采用 GBD 技术的重稀土成分方案，以及确保磁体涂层均匀度的定制工艺。
Now, the company is gearing up for commercial-scale magnet production. The front entrance of its Fort Worth plant has a giant American flag composed of red, white and blue hard hats. Compacted rare-earth powders are placed on heat-resistant racks and stuck into furnaces.
如今，该公司正全力推进商业规模的磁铁生产。其沃斯堡工厂的正门悬挂着一面由红白蓝三色安全帽拼成的巨型美国国旗。经过压缩的稀土粉末被置于耐热架上送入熔炉。
Its goal to become a national rare-earths “champion” that can go toe-to-toe with China was turbocharged last week.
该公司立志成为能与中国分庭抗礼的国家级稀土"冠军企业"，这一目标在上周获得了强劲助力。
该公司依赖非中国供应商提供设备，这延长了交货周期并增加了成本。图片来源：Trevor Paulhus/WSJ
Under the deal reached with the Pentagon on Thursday, the Texas plant’s magnet capacity will be tripled and MP will build a second, larger plant. To protect against price fluctuations, the government is setting a price floor for MP’s rare-earth minerals and guaranteeing the purchase of MP’s magnets, giving the company the confidence to plow ahead. Because the Defense Department will likely only require a portion of the magnets, the rest can be sold to commercial customers, like automakers.
根据周四与五角大楼达成的协议，得克萨斯州工厂的磁铁产能将提升两倍，MP 公司还将建造第二座规模更大的工厂。为防范价格波动风险，政府为 MP 的稀土矿物设定了最低价格，并承诺购买其磁铁产品，这使该公司有信心继续推进计划。由于国防部可能仅需部分磁铁，剩余产品可出售给汽车制造商等商业客户。
But challenges remain. As MP scales up magnet production, it will need to acquire more heavy rare earths than are available at its California mine, which is no easy feat because there are few producers of those outside of China. Building and operating a massive new facility could also create new snags.
但挑战依然存在。随着 MP 扩大磁铁生产规模，它将需要获取比其加州矿山现有产量更多的重稀土资源，这绝非易事，因为中国以外这类稀土的生产商寥寥无几。建造并运营一座大型新设施也可能带来新的阻碍。
Some of its Western competitors say the government’s decision to invest so heavily in a single company could drive promising startups out of the business, hurting U.S. competitiveness over the long term.
一些西方竞争对手表示，政府如此大规模注资单一企业的决定，可能会将潜力初创公司挤出市场，长期损害美国竞争力。
“It’s the government picking winners and losers,” said an executive at one rare-earth business, “and they seem to have made a big bet on one company.”
"这是政府在挑选赢家和输家，"某稀土企业高管表示，"他们似乎把重注押在了一家公司身上。"
Litinsky says a secure MP is good for the overall industry. “There’s going to be a lot of growth opportunities,” he said.
利廷斯基认为，确保 MP 公司的稳定对整体行业有利。"未来将涌现大量增长机遇，"他表示。
Write to Jon Emont at jonathan.emont@wsj.com
记者 Jon Emont 联系方式：jonathan.emont@wsj.com
U.S.-China Tensions 美中紧张关系
Tracking the complicated relationship of the world’s two largest economies
追踪全球两大经济体的复杂关系
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