Rare earth minerals and permanent magnets are key to a range of critical industries including defense and aerospace, AI infrastructure, the manufacturing of semiconductors, automotives, robotics, and medical devices. USA Rare Earth’s recently announced permanent magnet manufacturing facility in Blacksburg will strengthen these industries by providing the United States a secure rare earth supply chain while investing $1.2 billion into South Carolina’s manufacturing industry.
The U.S. is dependent on foreign imports of rare earth elements. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. imported 71 percent of its REEs from China between 2021 and 2024. USA Rare Earth’s move into Cherokee County is a milestone in the company’s long-term strategy of building a secure rare earth supply chain in the U.S. and strengthening the industry against geopolitical disruptions.
USA Rare Earth’s announcement comes ahead of the White House’s January 2027 deadline to block import of all rare earth minerals, among other critical metals, sourced from China, Iran, Russia, or North Korea from entering the domestic market. Although the U.S. has reserves of critical minerals, it lacks the infrastructure necessary to process them. Sufficient infrastructure is unlikely to appear before the January 2027 deadline, but the Blacksburg facility is part of a long-term, national effort by mineral refining and manufacturing corporations to bolster a stable, domestic rare earth supply chain.
The facility’s annual targeted production capacity is 6,400 metric tons of sintered neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnets and 5,000 tons of strip-cast metal and alloy. Production is estimated to begin in 2028.
The Blacksburg facility will serve as a “cornerstone of USA Rare Earth’s broader domestic magnet manufacturing footprint and advance the company’s integrated mine-to-magnet value chain,” said a spokesperson for the company. In March, USA Rare Earth laid the groundwork for this supply chain through its acquisition of the Round Top Project in Texas, a heavy rare earth mineral deposit set to begin commercial production in 2028, aided in part by a $1.6 billion debt-and-equity funding package endorsed by the Trump administration.
“A secure rare earth chain isn’t built with a single mine or a single factory,” Gregory Bowman, USA Rare Earth’s Chief Global Policy Officer, said in a press release issued on Sept. 9. “Blacksburg adds critical manufacturing capacity to that broader platform and brings the United States closer to producing more of the minerals and magnets our industries depend on outside of Chinese control.”
The decision-making behind the Blacksburg site came easy. “Blacksburg stood out as a community that wanted USA Rare Earth to be there and was ready to move quickly with us,” said the company’s spokesperson. “We found strong allies at every level who understood the importance of a stronger domestic critical minerals supply chain.”
Blacksburg’s position on the I-85 corridor of the Upstate which connects local manufacturers to Atlanta, Charlotte, and the Research Triangle was also a factor in the decision. Location and community support weren’t the only factors, either: “Blacksburg itself also offers access to a skilled manufacturing workforce and an established network of industrial customers and suppliers. The site also gives us room to grow as our operations and production capacity expand.”
Kenneth Moon, executive director of the Cherokee County Development Board, said that one of the biggest influences was the county’s timeline: “We were able to get power here within their timeframe of two years, and our permit process is extremely fast here in Cherokee County.” The site had also already been evaluated through Duke Energy’s Site Readiness Program, which helps economic development partners analyze and improve the competitiveness of industrial land, granting the development board readily available information regarding USA Rare Earth’s prospective site.
USA Rare Earth’s arrival will bring around 490 high-skill, high-wage jobs ranging from engineers and projects to technicians and maintenance professionals. The company also donated $250,000 to Spartanburg Community College’s SPARK Center, which the company’s spokesperson described as “an investment in our future workforce and in creating opportunities for people to build careers and lives in this community.”
“SCC is going to be running a funnel program to send workers to USA Rare Earth,” said Moon. “We’re here to support SCC in that effort, so the development board is doing whatever it can.”
A SPARK Center is currently being built at the college’s Gaffney campus which will help in workforce development for the USA Rare Earth facility, according to Moon.
Job specifics will be available ahead of the 2028 commissioning date.
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