Lynas Rare Earths will invest about $50 million in South Korean manufacturer JS Link to support a permanent magnet factory in Malaysia and expand into the rare earth magnet supply chain outside China.
The planned 3000-tonne-per-year factory will be located near Lynas’ advanced materials plant in Kuantan. Lynas will exclusively supply rare earth materials to the new facility and JS Link’s factory in Yesan, South Korea, until January 2038.
“This is an exciting project for the development of a sustainable rare earths industry in Malaysia and delivers on our Towards 2030 growth objective of expanding into the outside China metal and magnet supply chain,” Lynas interim chief executive officer (CEO) Pol Le Roux said.
Lynas will take an approximately 4.58 per cent stake in JS Link on a fully diluted basis through the ordinary equity investment. The funds will support construction of the Kuantan factory, which will produce neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) permanent sintered magnets.
“This partnership with Lynas, which is the most credible and trusted rare earths supplier in the Western world, will assist JS Link to create a stable and optimal permanent magnet value chain,” JS Link CEO Jun Y. Lee said.
JS Link has secured a site for the factory near the Lynas Malaysia plant. The development is expected to create up to 400 jobs, with its magnets intended for automotive, wind energy and electronics manufacturing supply chains in markets including South Korea and Malaysia.
“This partnership brings together Lynas’ rare earths processing expertise with JS Link’s magnet manufacturing capability to create a new manufacturing industry in Malaysia,” Le Roux said.
The agreement follows a memorandum of understanding signed in July 2025. Lynas will supply both JS Link factories at commercial prices under the exclusive arrangement.
JS Link is a South Korean permanent magnet manufacturer listed on the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) market. Its Yesan factory has 1000 tonnes of production capacity and is distributing samples to customers globally ahead of mass commercial production.
“Through this partnership, I am very pleased that JS Link will be able to contribute to a resilient rare earth supply chain,” Lee said.