Neo Performance Materials’ permanent magnet plant in Estonia, opened in 2025, is in commercial production, and the first commercial volumes of rare earth sintered magnets have gone to a Tier 1 EV traction motor customer.
Three Tier 1 motor manufacturers have awarded Neo multiple magnet programs, including traction motor applications, and the company has delivered qualification samples for each. Neo calls traction motor magnets the most technically demanding category of permanent magnets. Neo shipped the plant’s first magnet samples to a traction motor customer in June 2025.
Traction rotors run their magnets hot and against high reverse fields, so the material has to resist irreversible demagnetization at temperature rather than simply deliver peak remanence on the bench. Qualifying a new plant for that duty means showing that magnetic properties, dimensional tolerance and coating adhesion repeat lot to lot, which is the work the sampling phase does before a production award.
Neo expects two to three programs to be producing commercially before the end of 2026, and further traction motor and accessory magnet programs are scheduled to launch later in 2026. Automotive magnet programs are usually awarded for the life of the vehicle platform they supply, so a single award carries several years of volume visibility.
Phase 1A of the facility has nameplate capacity of about 2,000 metric tonnes a year. Phase 1B would raise that to roughly 5,000 metric tonnes a year and is in design. Detailed engineering, equipment procurement, supply chain planning and facility layout are all under way.
Neo’s long-term plans include reaching 20,000 metric tonnes of annual production through continued global expansion, a figure the company estimates could account for 10% to 15% of the projected rare earth permanent magnet market outside China.
“We built this facility in under two years and have won multiple program awards from Tier 1 motor manufacturers,” said Rahim Suleman, Neo’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
Source: Neo Performance Materials
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