Microfoundries for Rare‑Earths

Small, distributed processing plants run by startups and university spinouts are emerging as the pragmatic first step to re‑establish domestic rare‑earth capability because large mining firms lack margins and political risk is high. These microfoundries scale slowly, operate on modest footprints with electricity‑intensive furnaces, and emphasize closed‑loop processes to avoid the high‑emission methods seen in China. — If microfoundries become the dominant U.S. strategy, policymakers must redesign subsidies, permitting, electricity planning, and export‑control rules to make a bifurcated supply chain (many small processors vs. one dominant foreign producer) feasible and secure.