Who Supplies America's Critical Minerals and Materials for Defense

DefDex does not sort spending into sectors. It reads materials by product service code (PSC), the code on each award that says what was bought: group 93 (nonmetallic fabricated materials), 94 (nonmetallic crude materials), 95 (metal bars, sheets and shapes) and 96 (ores, minerals and primary metal forms). Chips are PSC 5961 (semiconductor devices) and 5962 (microcircuits). All totals include negative and zero actions and cover the USAspending baseline for DoW, DHS, DOE and NASA. Flood insurance (CFDA 97.022), DHS disaster assistance and other stated exclusions are separate reconciling lines.

Three limits matter. First, a product code names the item category, not the mineral: magnets bought by SP8000 in FY2026 sit under PSC 5999 and are outside 93 to 96. Second, defense systems consume most minerals inside components bought from primes, so code 93 to 96 spending is the direct purchase of materials, not the whole exposure. Third, DefDex's budget tables are empty (0 trackers, 0 figures), so there is no requested or enacted minerals series here.

The graph links 88 companies to inputs through 161 reviewed links (produces, processes, develops, consumes) and holds 51 trade-control records. USGS figures below are 2025 estimates from the 2026 summaries, as stored with citations in DefDex.

The last row shows that concentration is not only a China story. American Pacific Corporation in Cedar City is the only DoW-approved domestic source of ammonium perchlorate for weapons motors, according to the DefDex record, and is adding a line to raise capacity by more than 50%. The graph links nine companies to gallium, including Rio Tinto and Alcoa, though several are still developing supply, not producing. Of the 55 critical or high materials, 50 have a linked producer or processor and 11 have a company still developing supply. Producer links are evidence of presence, not of volume or of sales to the Pentagon.

Magnets are the clearest chain. MP Materials, Lynas Rare Earths, Energy Fuels, Ucore Rare Metals and Noveon Magnetics are linked at different steps: mine, separation, metal and alloy, magnet. USGS puts US net import reliance for rare-earth compounds and metals at 67% in 2025 (above 95% in 2021 and 2022).

MOFCOM Announcement No. 70 (November 7, 2025) suspended Nos. 55 to 58 and 61 and 62 from that date to November 10, 2026, and Announcement No. 72 (November 9, 2025) suspended item 2 of No. 46 to November 27, 2026. Neither names No. 18 of 2025, and a MOFCOM spokesperson restated on April 9, 2026 that the October 9, 2025 measures are suspended to November 10, 2026. No extension had been announced when this was written. On the US side, DFARS 225.7018 bars DoW from acquiring samarium-cobalt and NdFeB magnets, tantalum metals and alloys, tungsten metal powder and tungsten heavy alloy melted or produced in China, Russia, North Korea or Iran. From January 1, 2027 it extends to material mined, refined, separated, melted or produced there. DefDex does not track US tariffs, so none are discussed here.

FY2008 to FY2026 totals $6.07 billion for codes 93 to 96, 0.07% of the $8,677 billion non-excluded baseline. For FY2023 to FY2025 the buyers were the Defense Logistics Agency ($314.3M, 35.9%), the Army ($291.6M), the Navy ($74.6M), Citizenship and Immigration Services ($49.8M) and the Air Force ($48.1M). In FY2026 the Defense Logistics Agency holds $1,089.0 million of $1,262.8 million, 86.2%. These totals include 187 negative actions worth minus $88.0 million among 2,855 promoted actions (FY2023 to FY2026).

Chips run the other way. PSC 5961 and 5962 peaked at $599.1 million in FY2021 and are $77.2 million in FY2025. The largest recipient since FY2023 is GlobalFoundries U.S. 2 LLC at $233.2 million, with Raytheon second at $33.3 million. Product code, again, is not a measure of exposure: most chips reach DoW inside systems, not as direct purchases.

SP8000 is DLA Strategic Materials (contracting office SP8000), the DLA office that handles National Defense Stockpile buying, research and qualification; DLA tells vendors to search SAM.gov for its DoW activity address code SP8000. USAspending's office name for the same code reads "DCSO Columbus", so these DLA Strategic Materials awards appear in USAspending under that office name. SP8000's promoted awards (those from $250,000 and up, plus reviewed and other promoted classes) reached $1,076.7 million obligated in FY2026 so far, up from $48.2 million in FY2025 and $68.8 million in FY2024.

Together these six obligations are $850.8 million, 79% of SP8000's FY2026 total. Smaller FY2026 orders went to United States Antimony Corporation (antimony metal, $30.0M and $15.4M, PSC 9630), Rio Tinto Services (scandium oxide, $24.8M twice, PSC 9650), Global Advanced Metals (niobium, $20.2M, and tantalum, $15.1M), U.S. Vanadium (vanadium pentoxide, $20.1M) and, under PSC 5999, E-VAC Magnetics and Noveon Magnetics (NdFeB magnet blocks, $12.9M each).

The vehicles behind these orders show the difference between ceiling and spending. The Glencore vehicle SP800026D0012 carries a $1.8 billion potential value and $0 obligated on the vehicle; obligations to Glencore are $450.6 million, on two orders. Rio Tinto Services and Arconic each hold $995 million vehicles; United States Antimony $245 million; ICF Mercantile and Cliffs $400 million each; Noveon and E-VAC $200 million each. All 23 add to $6.31 billion in announced ceiling. None of it is spending and none is added to the obligation figures above.

The descriptions are the free-text line each award carries in USAspending, and the product code does not always match it (the rayon fiber order sits under 9420, the electric steel under 9640). The record states what each order was for, not why DLA bought it or how much of any stockpile target it fills. Annual totals are lumpy: the two Glencore orders, six weeks apart, exceed any full prior year in the SP8000 series.

The graph and the money barely overlap. Of the companies linked to a critical or high input as producer, processor or developer, only 15 show any DoW, DHS, DOE or NASA obligations in FY2023 to FY2026 on the owner company attributed to each action, and apart from $0.3 million to Northrop Grumman, only three have money in the materials product codes, all of it from SP8000: Glencore ($450.6M), Rio Tinto ($54.2M) and U.S. Vanadium ($20.1M). Noveon Magnetics shows $17.2 million over the period, $12.9 million from SP8000. Northrop Grumman's $61.9 billion is its whole federal business and appears only because the graph links it to energetic materials and rocket motors. The Glencore and Rio Tinto dollars went to separate legal entities, Glencore Ltd. (New York) and Rio Tinto Services Inc (South Jordan, Utah), so a name match to the parent company would be a guess. DefDex rolls them up only through subsidiary records on their exact SAM UEIs, with dated links based on company documents: Glencore plc's own July 3, 2018 statement names Glencore Ltd as its subsidiary, and Rio Tinto plc's 2025 Form 20-F (filed February 19, 2026) lists Rio Tinto Services Inc among its subsidiaries. Each link applies only from its start date.

Two other kinds of public money are outside this table. Announced awards under the Defense Production Act Title III program cannot be isolated in USAspending fields: for example, DefDex records a Title III Technology Investment Agreement of up to $24.8 million (a ceiling) from the Air Force Research Laboratory to Perpetua Resources for antimony permitting and construction readiness, and USGS reports a $10 million Department of War award for a Nebraska niobium-scandium-titanium project in August 2025 (announced; obligation not matched). Loans and equity are not obligations.

Founders. The direct buyer of materials is DLA, and in 2026 it is signing vehicles for refiners and mine operators, not start-ups. Magnet and antimony producers are the exception.

Investors. Treat ceilings as option value, not revenue. SP8000 has obligated $1,076.7 million in FY2026 against $6.31 billion in vehicle ceilings.

Analysts. Compare like with like: PSC 93 to 96 obligations against USGS reliance, not against budget requests. No requested or enacted minerals series exists in DefDex yet.

BD teams. Watch November 10 and 27, 2026, the suspension end dates, and January 1, 2027, when the DFARS restriction extends to mined and refined origin.