Durham – October 15, 2026 -- Vulcan Elements, a U.S. rare earth magnet manufacturer, will lead a three-year research project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's ARPA-E to develop magnetic materials potentially more powerful than rare earth magnets, the company announced.
Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer Dr. Piotr Kulik will head the effort. The project was competitively selected for ARPA-E funding. Kulik is also an Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida (UCF).
Project targets magnets that exceed current performance limits with less rare earth input
The work covers discovery, modeling, synthesis and validation of new high-performance magnetic materials. According to the source, the research could yield magnets that surpass current limits on magnetic performance while reducing requirements for rare earth inputs.
Oak Ridge's Frontier exascale supercomputer will drive materials discovery
Kulik will work with scientists at UCF and the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The team will use the laboratory's Frontier exascale supercomputer for computational modeling of non-rare earth inputs, aiming to identify materials with exceptional magnetic performance.
As promising candidates emerge, Vulcan will help develop routes to commercialization and manufacturing, drawing on its expertise in materials science, advanced manufacturing and production scale-up.
Vulcan frames the award as a supply chain play
CEO John Maslin said the partnership shows how the United States can "bend the curve" for the magnetics industry, combining national research talent, computational capability and domestic magnet manufacturing infrastructure. Kulik said the research could affect energy infrastructure, national security and American technological leadership.
ARPA-E, established in 2009, is the Department of Energy's "disruption wing" for advanced energy technologies.
Benson, North Carolina, plant is slated to be the largest magnet factory outside China
Vulcan says that, to its knowledge, it is the only rare earth magnet company decoupled from China across material, technology, software, IP and ownership. Its 1.1 million square foot Benson facility, currently under construction, will have annual capacity of 10,000 metric tons of magnets. The company says it will be the largest rare earth magnet factory outside China.
Output is intended for defense systems, semiconductor fabrication, robotics, drones, AI infrastructure and automobiles.