Highlights

• South Korean LS Cable & System is studying a rare earth permanent magnet manufacturing plant in Chesapeake, Virginia.
• The initiative signals allied reshoring efforts to reduce dependence on China's 80-90% global magnet production dominance.
• The proposed facility would focus on downstream magnet manufacturing, a strategically important supply chain segment, rather than mining.
• There are potential synergies from LS Cable's existing submarine cable operations for offshore wind and grid markets.
• Although still in the feasibility stage, the project shows credible industrial interest in testing U.S. commercial viability for magnet production.
• Challenges remain, including feedstock access, metallurgical capabilities, and environmental permitting.

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South Korea’s LS Cable & System says it is studying a rare earth permanent magnet plant in the United States, with Chesapeake, Virginia emerging as a candidate site. The proposal, still at feasibility stage, is framed as both a diversification play away from China and a logical extension of LS Cable’s existing U.S. footprint, including its large submarine cable investment nearby.

This is not a signed deal or a ground-breaking. It is, however, a meaningful signal.

Magnets Are the Prize—Not the Ore

This comes by way of The Dong-A Ilbo, a daily South Korean news media, and is directionally accurate on the central constraint: rare earth permanent magnets, not raw rare earth mining, are the most strategically concentrated node of the supply chain. China’s dominance—often cited at roughly 80–90% of global NdFeB magnet output—remains structural. U.S. magnet manufacturing capacity is thin, fragmented, and heavily dependent on imported feedstock.

For investors, LS Cable’s interest matters because magnets sit downstream of mining and separation. This is where value, margins, and geopolitical leverage accumulate. A Korean industrial firm contemplating U.S.-based magnet manufacturing reflects buyer-side pressure, not just policy rhetoric.

Chesapeake Synergies—and Their Limits

The Chesapeake angle is plausible. Co-locating magnet manufacturing with a submarine cable plant could offer logistics, labor, and infrastructure advantages, particularly for offshore wind, grid expansion, and electrification markets. Supplying automakers and automotive electronics firms also aligns with LS Cable’s customer adjacency.

Still, feasibility studies exist for a reason. Magnet plants require reliable access to separated oxides or metals, metallurgical know-how, environmental permitting for waste streams, and long-term offtake certainty. None of those challenges disappear by choosing the right ZIP code.

Strategic Framing, With a Familiar Tilt

The Dong-A Ilbo leans into a familiar policy narrative: U.S.–Korea industrial security versus China dependence. That framing is not wrong, but it is incomplete. A U.S. magnet plant does not equal supply chain independence if upstream materials remain imported, often from China or Chinese-linked processors.

Why This Still Matters

What’s notable is not scale—it’s intent. LS Cable is a credible industrial actor testing whether the U.S. can host magnet manufacturing at commercial standards. Even a modest plant would represent incremental de-risking and a proof point for allied reshoring. For the rare earth supply chain, this is how change actually starts: quietly, experimentally, and with capital on the line.

The Company

LS Cable & System (opens in a new tab) is a South Korea-based industrial corporation with global operations and one of the biggest cable manufacturers worldwide. Its products comprise power and telecommunication cables and systems, as well as integrated modules and other related industrial materials. 

LS Cable & System is part of the larger LS Group (opens in a new tab), but the parent company, LS Cable & System (Korea), is considered a private company (opens in a new tab), though a subsidiary, LS Cable & System Asia Ltd. (opens in a new tab) (229640.KS), is publicly traded. Revenues vary by entity: the main Korean unit had sales around 6.2 trillion KRW (approx. $4.5 billion) in 2023/2024, while the Asia subsidiary saw around 869 billion KRW revenue in 2024, with overall group revenue figures also available. 

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