SUNY Albany Maps Malaysia's Rare Earth Supply Chain: Great Powers Era 2.0 Explains What Comes Next

Highlights

• Malaysia holds an estimated 16.2 million tonnes TREE of inferred rare-earth resources but lacks a domestically integrated upstream-to-downstream chain.
• Lynas Rare Earths' Gebeng facility gives Malaysia commercial-scale separation outside China, its strongest strategic industrial asset.
• The study recommends a centralized national-security investment screening mechanism to close the gap between export controls and ownership security.
• Federal-state jurisdictional conflict over land, mineral rights, and royalty structures creates a fragmented investment environment for rare-earth developers.
• Foreign-operated technology on Malaysian soil does not equal Malaysian technological sovereignty—a core tension the report highlights but underexplores.