Shares in MP Materials Corp., a rare earth materials company, are surging in premarket trading on Tuesday for the second time in recent days. Last week, the stock price (NYSE: MP) skyrocketed after the United States Department of Defense (DOD) agreed to buy $400 million worth of the company’s newly created preferred stock. And this week, MP Materials is on the rise again—but not because of any Pentagon agreement. Instead, tech giant Apple appears to be causing MP shares to rise. Here’s what you need to know. What is MP Materials? MP Materials Corp. is the name of the company that operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and Processing Facility in the Clarke Mountain Range in southeast California. That mine is located just about 50 miles south of Las Vegas, Nevada, where MP Materials is based. The company was formed in 2017 in order to acquire the Mountain Pass mine and restarted mining operations at the site in the same year. The company says it began selling its first rare earths product, a concentrate of rare earths, in 2018.  MP Materials went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2020, and two years later, it started construction on a fully integrated metal and magnet manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas. Production of the magnets, which are critical components in everything from drones to smartphones to advanced military weapons, as well as virtually all other advanced electronic devices, began in 2024. What are rare earths? Rare earths are a group of 17 materials that are now critical to the production of advanced electronics, particularly the magnets used in them. The name “rare earths” is a bit misleading, because most of the 17 elements are actually pretty plentiful in the earth, according ot the U.S. Geological Survey, which states that all are “relatively abundant.” The problem with rare earths, as noted by Live Science, is that they are difficult to extract from the earth. The materials usually need to go through a cumbersome processing in order to extract their purest form. Why are rare earth materials important? Rare earths are now critical in our digital world, since they are required to make so many advanced electronics—everything from batteries to smartphones to guided missile systems. Their importance in defence manufacturing is why governments worldwide have increasingly placed emphasis on bolstering their rare earth supply chains. China is currently the largest producer of rare earth materials. The reason MP Materials has become so important as of late is because its Mountain Pass is the second largest rare earths mine in the world—and the only one operational inside the United States. How is Apple involved with MP Materials? MP Materials Corp’s stock price got a huge boost last week when the DOD agreed to buy $400 million of the company’s newly created preferred stock, which will help MP Materials construct a second magnet-producing facility. But as stated, rare earths are critical not just for defense but for electronics such as smartphones. So it’s no surprise that a company like Apple, make of the iPhone, is interested in acquiring rare earths. Apple announced today that it is making a $500 million commitment to MP Materials. The deal sees Apple purchasing American-made rare-earth magnets from MP Materials. It will also help in the construction of a new recycling facility near the mine, which will reprocess materials from previously used electronics. These recycled materials will then be used in future Apple products. Apple and MP Materials will also open a second magnet factory in Fort Worth, Texas. A senior White House official told Fox News Digital that “Apple deserves a lot of credit for stepping up,” referring to the Trump Administration’s efforts to bolster U.S. rare earth production. In a press release, Apple CEO Tim Cook said, “Rare earth materials are essential for making advanced technology, and this partnership will help strengthen the supply of these vital materials here in the United States.” How is MP Materials stock price performing? After the MP Materials-DOD announcement last week, MP Materials’ stock price skyrocketed 50%. And today, after the news broke that Apple was expected to make a half-billion dollar commitment to the company, MP shares are up again. As of the time of this writing, MP shares are currently up over 8% in premarket trading to $52.46 per share. Year to date, as of yesterday’s closing price, MP shares are up 211%. And since the company went public in 2020, shares have surged more than 390%. This post has been updated with comment from Apple.