Permanent magnets are the quiet workhorses of the modern economy. Unlike electromagnets, they hold their magnetic field without any external power, which makes them indispensable wherever efficiency, compactness and reliability matter. They sit inside EV traction motors, direct-drive offshore wind turbines, industrial robots, MRI scanners, aerospace actuators and the earbuds in your pocket. As...

There's a good chance a permanent magnet is within arm's reach of you right now — in your phone's speaker, your laptop's hard drive, or the electric motor in a nearby car. These unassuming materials, which generate their own magnetic field without any external power source, have quietly become one of the most strategically important commodities in the global economy. And the numbers back...