US-China rivalry intensifies over rare earths and advanced chips

A mid-May summit in Beijing between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping produced a brief diplomatic thaw, with modest deals on aircraft sales and agricultural imports but no major breakthroughs on mineral access or security policy. The United States is investing in reviving the Mountain Pass mine and developing new sites such as the Round Top project, yet it still relies on China for the bulk of rare-earth supply and related processing capacity.

China, which commands the majority of global production of rare earths, magnesium, tungsten, graphite, silicon and cobalt, is expanding its reach through Belt and Road investments in Africa and Asia. Meanwhile, U.S. restrictions on Nvidia’s most advanced semiconductors have prompted Beijing to fund its own AI chip ecosystem, exemplified by DeepSeek’s ChatGPT rival, with a target to match U.S. capability by 2030. Trade tensions have escalated into reciprocal blacklists of firms accused of dual-use applications, underscoring the depth of the strategic competition. The contest over minerals and chips is reshaping alliances in the Global South and influencing broader geopolitical stability.