Magnequench

The origins of Magnequench lay in the early 1980s, when General Motors and Sumitomo Special Metals separately developed powerful neodymium-based permanent magnets.^[7] Under the Magnequench name, GM opened a factory in Anderson, Indiana, in 1986.^[8]

In 1995, GM sold Magnequench for US$70 million to Sextant Group, Beijing San Huan New Material High-Tech, and China National Non-Ferrous Metals.^[9][8] It was part of GM's effort to divest non-core operations.^[10][11]

After the sale, Magnequench expanded through acquisitions and overseas investment. It acquired other magnet producers, including GA Powders and UGIMAG's Valparaiso plant, while also building factories abroad^[8] The company remained profitable for a time, but the market weakened in 2000 and Magnequench announced the closure of its Anderson plant.^[8] Its Valparaiso, Indiana, facility was later shut as the company exited magnet manufacturing in Indiana.^[5][12]

In 2005, Magnequench combined with Toronto-based AMR Technologies and the merged company became Neo Material Technologies.^[6]

In 2012, Molycorp acquired Neo Material Technologies in a US$1.3 billion cash-and-share deal.^[13][14]

Magnequench became a recurring reference point in American debates over outsourcing, industrial policy, and dependence on Chinese rare-earth supply chains.^[5][10] As of 2025, the United States still had no large domestic makers of neodymium magnets at the time MP Materials began trial production in Texas.^[15]