Geopolitics Alpha

America gave up its rare earth edge. China took full advantage.

Published . Updated .

Decades of cheaper imports left US dependent on China for crucial rare earth processing.

Directly affected

  • No company is named in this report.

Indirectly affected

  • NVDA NVIDIA

    Chip makers and their suppliers move when export rules or Taiwan risk changes

  • TSM Taiwan Semiconductor

    The main advanced-chip manufacturer sits in Taiwan

  • ASML ASML

    Chipmaking-equipment sales follow export rules

  • AVGO Broadcom

    Chip makers and their suppliers move when export rules or Taiwan risk changes

  • AMD AMD

    Chip makers and their suppliers move when export rules or Taiwan risk changes

  • AMAT Applied Materials

    Chip-equipment makers feel export controls

  • LRCX Lam Research

    Chip-equipment makers feel export controls

  • SMH VanEck Semiconductor

    A fund of semiconductor companies

  • SOXX iShares Semiconductor

    A fund of semiconductor companies

  • QQQ Invesco QQQ

    Big tech moves with chip-supply risk

Price reaction, T-5 to T+3

TickerT-5T-3T-1T0T+1T+2T+3
NVDA———————
TSM———————
ASML———————
AVGO———————
AMD———————
AMAT———————
LRCX———————
SMH———————
SOXX———————
QQQ———————

Decades of cheaper imports left US dependent on China for crucial rare earth processing.

Source: Ars Technica

USA Rare Earth (USAR) since this story, compared with the market

Since the first closing price after “America gave up its rare earth edge. China took full advantage.,” USA Rare Earth (USAR) is -34.50%. The S&P 500 fund (SPY) is -0.09% over the same days, a -34.41% difference versus the market. technology stocks (XLK) is +3.23%, a -37.73% difference versus that group of stocks.

USAR
SPY
XLK

USA Rare Earth (USAR) on one side of this semiconductors story

Companies mentioned with this story

  • USAR USA Rare Earth

    USA Rare Earth (USAR) is linked, with no stored direction, high confidence in the 23 Sep 2026 story “America gave up its rare earth edge. China took full advantage..” Reason on file: GA selected USAR as a RELATED security because its canonical security name directly matches this event's themes: rare earth, earth, rare. This is an explainable DERIVED market relationship, not a claim that the security was named in the source article

  • HL Hecla Mining

    In “America gave up its rare earth edge. China took full advantage.,” Hecla Mining (HL) is linked, with no stored direction, medium confidence. Reason on file: GA selected HL as a RELATED security because its canonical security name directly matches this event's themes: mining. This is an explainable DERIVED market relationship, not a claim that the security was named in the source article

  • MP MP Materials Corp. / DE

    For “America gave up its rare earth edge. China took full advantage.,” MP Materials Corp. / DE (MP) is linked, with no stored direction, medium confidence. Reason on file: GA selected MP as a RELATED security because its canonical security name directly matches this event's themes: materials. This is an explainable DERIVED market relationship, not a claim that the security was named in the source article

  • RYAM Rayonier Advanced Materials

    In “America gave up its rare earth edge. China took full advantage.,” Rayonier Advanced Materials (RYAM) is linked, with no stored direction, medium confidence. Reason on file: GA selected RYAM as a RELATED security because its canonical security name directly matches this event's themes: materials. This is an explainable DERIVED market relationship, not a claim that the security was named in the source article

  • ARIS Aris Mining

    For “America gave up its rare earth edge. China took full advantage.,” Aris Mining (ARIS) is linked, with no stored direction, medium confidence. Reason on file: GA selected ARIS as a RELATED security because its canonical security name directly matches this event's themes: mining. This is an explainable DERIVED market relationship, not a claim that the security was named in the source article

  • ATCX Atlas Critical Minerals

    For “America gave up its rare earth edge. China took full advantage.,” Atlas Critical Minerals (ATCX) is linked, with no stored direction, medium confidence. Reason on file: GA selected ATCX as a RELATED security because its canonical security name directly matches this event's themes: critical minerals. This is an explainable DERIVED market relationship, not a claim that the security was named in the source article

USA Rare Earth (USAR) and the semiconductors link

USA Rare Earth (USAR) is the company in “America gave up its rare earth edge. China took full advantage.,” the 23 Sep 2026 Semiconductors story.

The link for USA Rare Earth (USAR) is this: GA selected USAR as a RELATED security because its canonical security name directly matches this event's themes: rare earth, earth, rare. This is an explainable DERIVED market relationship, not a claim that the security was named in the source article

Hecla Mining (HL) is here too. Its reason reads: GA selected HL as a RELATED security because its canonical security name directly matches this event's themes: mining. This is an explainable DERIVED market relationship, not a claim that the security was named in the source article

Dates in the story, and the USA Rare Earth (USAR) price range

HL traded between 14.65 and 19.29 across 20 sessions. The latest close on file is 15.04. MP traded between 38.61 and 51.35 across 20 sessions. The latest close on file is 38.97. USAR traded between 9.82 and 17.10 across 20 sessions. The latest close on file is 10.08.

How solid the semiconductors case looks

46 out of 100

“America gave up its rare earth edge. China took full advantage.” scores 46 out of 100. The score uses 1 sources, and 6 linked companies.