MP Materials’ Project Swarm pools U.S. drone and robotics demand behind its 10,000 tpa magnet build-out
Las Vegas-based MP Materials at the end of July launched Project Swarm, an industrial-coordination initiative that aggregates the future NdFeB magnet requirements of U.S. and allied drone, robotics and motor manufacturers. Participants reserve priority production capacity at the 10X magnet campus in Northlake, Texas, which MP is developing with the Dept of War, without binding purchase commitments today. Members also get access to MP’s magnet engineering team and preferential claims on earlier output from the Independence plant in Fort Worth. Multiple leading drone companies have executed term sheets, though none were named. Reservations are capped at capacity equivalent to about two million drones a year.