Rare-Earth Permanent Magnets

What the part is

A permanent-magnet motor gets its torque from magnets in the rotor. As Kollmorgen describes, a frameless motor is a stator with copper windings and a rotor with rare-earth magnets mounted on a hub. The magnets are therefore part of the motor itself, which is why they matter to every servo and frameless motor in a robot joint.

The magnets used are sintered neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB), which Ningbo Yunsheng calls the third generation of rare-earth magnets, with high remanence, coercivity and energy product (2026 interim report, p. 7). The metal is made mainly from neodymium, iron and boron, and the neodymium comes with praseodymium as a mixed metal, whose price Yunsheng tracks (pp. 7, 8).

Where China stands

The listed makers say China leads this chain. JL Mag (金力永磁, 300748.SZ) says China dominates global rare-earth magnet supply and that it was the world's largest producer by output and sales in 2024. Both are its own statements (2026 interim report, p. 11). It has four plants and 40,000 tonnes a year of capacity, planned to reach 60,000 tonnes by the end of 2027 (pp. 10, 13).

Ningbo Yunsheng (宁波韵升, 600366.SH) sold 7,190 tonnes of finished magnets in the first half of 2026, up 11.6% (2026 interim report, p. 9).

The two companies' first-half 2026 results:

• JL Mag: revenue up 32.6% to ¥4.65bn, gross margin 21.7% against 16.4% a year earlier (pp. 8, 12).
• Ningbo Yunsheng: revenue up 42.0% to ¥3.34bn, net profit up 154.2% (p. 5).

How big are robots in this market?

Small, so far. JL Mag's electric vehicle and parts sales were ¥2.23bn, about 48% of revenue, against ¥261m for robots and industrial servo motors combined, about 6%, although that line grew 96.4% (JL Mag p. 12). Yunsheng's electric vehicle sales were ¥1.50bn and its whole industrial and other line, which includes servo motors, was ¥621m (Yunsheng pp. 9, 10).

On humanoids specifically, JL Mag says it won a motor rotor project for an embodied robot from an unnamed world-famous technology company and has invested about ¥200m in a rotor line (pp. 12, 13). Yunsheng says it has completed development or sampling for several humanoid projects (p. 9). Neither gives humanoid revenue or volumes.

Prices and export controls

The material is a price and policy business. Yunsheng says tight supply pushed the average praseodymium-neodymium metal price to about ¥900,000 a tonne in the first half of 2026, up about 34% on a year earlier. It says China's April 2025 export controls on seven medium and heavy rare earth items still weigh on business, and that China's rare earth exports fell 6.4% to 30,483 tonnes in the half year (pp. 7, 8). JL Mag says it has received export licences and was among the first companies given a general licence, and that new enforcement rules took effect from 1 July 2026 (p. 14).

Our view: robot joints are a story of mix, not volume, for the magnet makers. The filings show cars, air conditioners and consumer electronics buying most of the magnets, with robots as an early and fast-growing line. What a robot builder is most likely to feel is the policy and price environment those same makers operate in, and the way they are moving up into finished rotors.

What to watch

• Rotors. JL Mag's move from bare magnets to finished rotor modules would put it closer to the motor makers, such as Kinco and Inovance.
• Named robot customers. JL Mag's rotor customer is unnamed, and no filing gives humanoid volumes.
• Export licensing. Both companies tie their overseas business to licences, so approvals affect how easily foreign robot makers can buy.
• Capacity. JL Mag's plan for 60,000 tonnes a year by the end of 2027 will show whether makers expect robots and cars to need much more material.