Highlights

• North America's permanent magnets market is valued at $5.1 billion in 2025 and is growing at a 5.5% CAGR, outpacing global rates as electrification drives the industry toward $38.5 billion by 2035.
• NdFeB magnets command a 51% market share, with automotive contributing 40% of demand.
• U.S. policy and manufacturing shifts aim to reduce China's 90% dominance in rare earth refining.
• Despite rising domestic magnet production across North America, supply chain fragility persists due to rare earth feedstock gaps, high separation costs, and China's continued control of patents and pricing.

---

According to a new report by Fact.MR, North America’s permanent magnets market, valued at $5.1 billion in 2025, is expanding at a 5.5% CAGR, outpacing global averages as the U.S. and Canada electrify their transport and energy infrastructure. Globally, the $24 billion permanent magnets industry is projected to reach $38.5 billion by 2035, driven by electric vehicle adoption and renewable energy buildout.

Neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets —the high-coercivity workhorses of modern motors —command 51% of the market share, with the automotive sector accounting for nearly 40% of global demand. Ferrite magnets dominate lower-cost industrial uses, while SmCo and Alnico alloys fill high-temperature aerospace and defense niches.

As global supply chains rewire around electrification, the next industrial frontier isn’t digital—it’s magnetic.

Magnets Are the New Oil Wells

The report highlights a regional pivot toward self-sufficiency and resilience in recycling. The U.S. and Mexico, projected to grow by 5.5% and 5.1% respectively, are emerging as manufacturing hubs for EV motors and turbine generators. Policy engines like the Inflation Reduction Act and Defense Production Act are driving localized magnet production, recycling, and feedstock recovery—vital steps in reducing dependence on China’s 90% dominance in NdFeB refining.

But behind the optimism lies fragility. The bottleneck remains the rare-earth inputs—Nd, Pr, Dy, and Tb—that enable these magnets. Without reliable supplies of oxide and metal, the magnet factories now rising across North America risk running half-empty. U.S. players such as MP Materials, Energy Fuels, and Lynas USA are racing to close that gap, but full feedstock independence is still several years away.

Reality Check: The Promise and the Pitfalls

The Fact.MR data aligns with EV and wind-market trajectories, but the assumption of seamless vertical integration is optimistic. The cost of domestic separation remains high, the heavy rare earth (HREE) supply is uncertain, and environmental permitting is sluggish. True onshore magnet independence before 2030 looks unlikely—but not impossible.  Moreover, Chinese producers—including China Northern Rare Earth, Ningbo Yunsheng, and TDK affiliates—still dominate global magnet patents, pricing, and downstream alloys.

Even so, the trend is irreversible: the West is industrializing magnet production at scale. The rare earth race has shifted from rhetoric to reality—and the stakes are magnetic.

©!-- /wp:paragraph -->