Report: Daido Steel to make neodymium magnets in US for motors in hybrids and EVs
26 August 2016
The Nikkei reports that Daido Steel will build a neodymium magnet factory in the US to meet growing demand from automakers there for motors used in hybrid and electric vehicles. Daido Steel recently worked with Honda to develop a neodymium magnet that does not use any heavy rare-earth materials (earlier post). Honda is using this magnet in a new motor for hybrid drive systems. (Earlier post.)
Daido reportedly will invest some tens of millions of dollars to get the plant up and running by 2019. More equipment will be added later in a stepwise fashion between then and 2026. Investment will ultimately total around ¥10 billion (~US$100 million).
Daido is the fourth-largest producer of high-performance neodymium magnets in Japan, following after Shin-Etsu Chemical, Hitachi Metals and TDK.
The US site will be the company’s fourth overseas production base, joining one in Thailand and two in China.
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