Chinese rare earth refining
In every motor, turbine, hard drive and headphone. Refined in one country.
Rare earth elements are not actually rare. Refining them is where the concentration lies, and China holds roughly 91% of global refining capacity and makes about 90% of the neodymium magnets that go into EV motors, wind turbines, hard drives, loudspeakers and headphones. Europe's exposure is close to total: it depends on China for about 98% of its critical rare earth supply, and 88% of the magnets it imports. Europe does have deposits, and it does have magnet makers — Vacuumschmelze in Hanau among them — but the refining step in between is the one nobody here does at scale, so European ore would still be shipped to China and back. This gap sits underneath several others on this site. There is no electric car, no wind turbine and no hard drive without it.
What you are replacing (2)
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China (refining) ↗
About 91% of global refined output in 2024.
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China (permanent magnets) ↗
Around 90% of NdFeB magnets, and 94% of sintered permanent magnets.
European alternatives (0)
Suggest another →There is no European alternative to this.
Not an unfinished card: we looked, and nothing in Europe does this at a scale you could actually switch to. It is here so the gap is visible — these are the places where something is missing rather than merely losing.
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