MANY MINDEDUS Steel and rare earths advance domestic supply chains for clean energy
US Steel resumed operations at Gary, Indiana’s Blast Furnace 14 after a $350 million reline project, producing over 2 million tons of hot metal annually. Array Technologies opened a $50 million Albuquerque facility covering 216,000 square feet to support 300 jobs, while USA Rare Earth broke ground on a $1.2 billion South Carolina plant designed to produce up to 6,400 metric tons of neodymium-iron-boron magnets and 5,000 metric tons of alloy annually. These projects—alongside Siemens Healthineers’ $43.6 million Tennessee expansion and SteelFab’s $19 million North Carolina upgrade—form part of nearly $2 billion in announced U.S. facility investments. The focus on rare earths and steel directly addresses supply chain vulnerabilities for renewables and electric vehicles, reducing reliance on imported materials. USA Rare Earth’s facility will begin commissioning in 2028, meaning immediate cost reductions for clean energy hardware are unlikely yet. What matters now is whether these projects scale production faster than global demand for magnets and steel. The biggest risk is that USA Rare Earth’s 2028 timeline could delay the supply chain benefits for EVs and wind turbines until 2028–2029. The source reports all investments as announced, not yet operational, so current impacts remain limited to reduced outage periods and incremental capacity gains.
Source: Manufacturing Dive