Published: June 4, 2026 |

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USA Rare Earth (USAR) executed definitive agreements with the U.S. Department of Commerce, unlocking access to up to $1.6 billion in funding under the Department of Commerce’s CHIPS Program. The definitive agreements comprise up to $277 million in federal funding and up to $1.3 billion in senior secured loan capacity under the CHIPS Act, with disbursements tied to the achievement of project milestones.

Prior to the definitive documents, USA Rare Earth closed $1.5 billion in private capital raise, signed certain strategic customer agreements, and advanced Round Top.

The definitive agreements establish the framework under which USAR will continue to build out its integrated heavy rare earth mining, metal, and magnet global value chain. Together with the $1.5 billion private capital raise completed in January 2026 and previous capital raises, the agreements bring total committed capital supporting USAR’s growth plan to approximately $3.5 billion.

“This partnership with the U.S. Government is the largest of its kind in our industry and provides the necessary capital to build the only global platform across light and heavy rare earth mining and processing, metal and alloy making, as well as magnet manufacturing — for the benefit of the United States and its allies,” said Michael Blitzer, chairman of the board of USA Rare Earth.

“This landmark collaboration reflects the scale and urgency of securing critical supply chains for technologies essential to long-term economic growth. We are grateful for the leadership shown across government in moving with speed and conviction. Our focus now is execution and generating industry-leading returns for both our shareholders and the U.S. Government,” added Blitzer.

“Today marks the moment we move from intent to execution alongside the United States Government,” said Barbara Humpton, chief executive officer of USA Rare Earth.

“With the definitive agreements, USAR is positioned to accelerate the building of a global mine-to-magnet value chain that will supply the materials, metals, and magnets that industrial customers depend upon. From defense, aerospace, semiconductors, and data centers to physical AI, energy, mobility, and healthcare, our integrated value chain is designed to power the technology and innovations of the 21st Century. We look forward to our partnership with the United States Government,” added Humpton.

“The CHIPS Program’s $277 million funding and $1.3 billion loan will be instrumental for the construction of a domestic integrated supply chain for critical minerals and NdFeB magnets which are essential for semiconductor chip manufacturing,” said Bill Frauenhofer, executive director of Semiconductor Investment and Innovation.

“Yttrium, gallium, dysprosium and the other nine critical and strategic minerals that will be mined in Texas, along with the domestic metal and magnet production, provides United States semiconductor companies a reliable domestic source and removes choke points in their manufacturing supply chain that enable chemical vapor deposition, high-k materials, compound semiconductors, dopants and other foundational applications,” added Frauenhofer.

WHAT THE DEFINITIVE AGREEMENTS ENABLE

The definitive agreements support execution of USAR’s integrated value chain across each layer of the production system, with a targeted 2030 operating profile that, when delivered, is expected to represent the largest domestic heavy rare earth and critical mineral mining, processing and separation, metal making, and magnet production platform in the United States and the establishment of the global leader in rare earths.

Specifically, the agreements support:

• Development of the Round Top heavy rare earth and critical mineral deposit in Hudspeth County, Texas, targeted to begin commercial production in 2028.

• Processing and separation of the output from the Round Top Project, including heavy rare earth element and critical mineral oxides and concentrates — including dysprosium, terbium, yttrium, gadolinium, hafnium, erbium, thulium, lutetium, ytterbium, holmium, gallium, and zirconium — securing domestic access to 12 critical minerals and rare earth elements.

• Reshoring of 10,000 tons per annum (tpa) of heavy rare earth element metal- and alloy-making and strip-casting capacity through USAR’s subsidiary Less Common Metals (LCM), which are capabilities that do not currently exist in the United States.

• Scaling of neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnet manufacturing capacity in Stillwater, Oklahoma and Blacksburg, South Carolina to 10,000 tpa.

A PARTNERSHIP AT THE SCALE OF THE NATIONAL CHALLENGE

Rare earth elements and permanent magnets are foundational inputs to the technologies that underpin American economic and national security. Today, the United States is structurally dependent on foreign supplies (and in many categories a single-source) for materials that are essential to modern technology and global security.

The definitive agreements between USAR and the Department of Commerce are structured to close that gap. The U.S. Government’s funding is tied to project milestones aligned with USAR’s build schedule and creates a structure that directly aligns with taxpayer returns and the objectives of institutional investors.

USA Rare Earth is building a fully integrated rare earth and permanent magnet value chain across the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Brazil. Through its ownership of Less Common Metals (LCM), one of the world’s leading producers of rare earth metals and alloys, its magnet manufacturing capacity in Stillwater, Oklahoma, the Pela Ema mine in Brazil (subject to closing the Serra Verde Group transaction) and the Round Top deposit in Texas, USA Rare Earth operates across the entire value chain from mining to metal-making, alloy production and neodymium magnet manufacturing. USA Rare Earth is establishing a secure, Western-aligned supply of materials essential to the aerospace and defense, semiconductor, energy, data center, physical AI, mobility, healthcare, and industrial sectors.

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