Europe’s Secret Sovereignty Weapon Against China: Recycled Magnets From MagREEsource

Magnets are not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about breakthrough innovations. But as it turns out, magnets are everywhere and in everything.

Take transport and mobility, for instance. Magnets are used in electric motors. Not just the main motor, but also the motors that move the seat, the side mirrors, and the windshield wipers. Zoom out, and you'll find magnets in bicycles, e-scooters, trains, planes, and boats.

Zoom even further out, and you'll find magnets in most electronics, robots, refrigerators (and not just ones for holding notes or pictures of cats on the door), air-conditioners, and MRI machines.

Earlier this year, French utility EDF built a wind farm with 80 wind turbines, each containing about 80 tons of magnets, so about 800 tons of magnets for the whole project.

The problem for Europe in general, and France in particular, is that 98% of all magnets currently come from China. Over the past four decades, the region has shifted its focus away from mining iron and other materials (an environmentally detrimental industry) needed for magnets and processing the raw materials (a resource-intensive process with costly labor) by outsourcing these activities to Asia.

As demand for magnets soars thanks to more innovations, Europe is increasingly beholden to the trade demands of China. Beyond the geopolitical implications, the disruptions to supply chains for a wide range of products have catalyzed the desire for greater economic sovereignty across Europe, most notably in the realm of technology.

And so, this brings us to the small factory in the city of Grenoble, operated by a modest startup with the clunky name of MagREEsource. I had the opportunity to visit MagREEsource as part of a journalist tour of Grenoble's innovation ecosystem.

During the visit to the factory, co-founders Erick Petit, CEO, and Sophie Rivoirard, CTO, explained the hidden power of the magnet industry and how MagREEsource has developed technology and machines that address this issue through a recycling process that allows the company to harvest magnetic material from discarded items like old e-scooters and then refine it to be used in new products.

Only about 1% of magnets are currently recycled. MagREEsource's modest factory is effectively demonstrating the capability of its process to open a larger factory in 2027.

"When we talk about dependence on critical metals for the energy transition, we're right in the middle of it," Petit said during the visit. "This is what the European market needs today. Using our recycled material means we're independent of the Chinese."

From Lab to Factory Floor

The story of MagREEsource began in the laboratories of CNRS Néel Institute in Grenoble, where Rivoirard spent years as a researcher pushing the boundaries of materials science. Her research into critical rare earth magnet technology laid the groundwork for breakthrough recycling processes.

The eureka moment came with the realization that the magnetic materials in discarded electronics weren't truly waste. Instead, they could be a treasure trove of strategic resources waiting to be harvested.

Her team developed proprietary hydrogen decrepitation technology, a process that uses hydrogen to break down used magnets at the molecular level, allowing the recovery and repurposing of rare earth elements like neodymium and dysprosium.

In 2020, she joined up with Petit, an engineer with a background in B2B marketing, and took the leap from academic research to commercial reality, founding MagREEsource with the audacious goal of creating Europe's first sustainable magnet manufacturing ecosystem.

By 2023, they had built their first production facility in Noyarey, a 1,800-square-meter site that serves as both a technological demonstrator and proof of concept for their revolutionary approach.

The Technology Behind the Revolution

MagREEsource's system includes two complementary technologies that transform electronic waste into high-performance magnets.

The first, already in production, is their "hydrogen loop" process, a method so efficient that Petit describes it as "nothing more economical and faster." This technology allows the company to produce 100% recycled magnets with performance identical to newly mined materials.

The second technology, called "Fusion," represents the next evolution of their approach. This advanced metallurgical process uses foundry techniques to further purify recycled materials, enabling the company to enter high-end markets where performance specifications are most demanding, such as wind turbines, aerospace applications, robotics, and defense systems.

Not only do the end products potentially give Europe an independent source of magnets, but they are more climate friendly. MagREEsource's recycled magnets have a 91% lower carbon footprint than traditional magnets produced from Chinese mining operations.

In an era where corporations face increasing pressure to decarbonize their supply chains, this sustainability advantage could prove as valuable as the strategic independence it provides.

Government's Strategic Bet

Last summer, MagREEsource raised €23 million in a round led by the EIC Fund and backed by Bpifrance, Demeter, and key industrial partners like EIT RawMaterials and Crédit Mutuel Innovation. This marks a pivotal moment in the startup’s journey to scale up low-carbon, sovereign magnet manufacturing.

This is part of France's larger efforts to spend billions of euros to forge a tighter link between its Deep Tech startups and its industrial economy. Grenoble, which is one of Europe's top Deep Tech hubs thanks to its historic ties between industry and academia, has become ground zero of the government's programs to rebuild its industrial base by pushing more innovation out of university labs and then scaling up the startups to maximize their economic impact.

MagREEsource is the model for how such partnerships are supposed to work.

French Minister of Industry and Energy Roland Lescure has hailed MagREEsource as "a textbook case of how deeptech can reindustrialize France while greening its economy." The European Commission has gone even further, labeling the company's planned MagFactory as a "European Strategic Project" under the Critical Raw Materials Act.

This government backing reflects a growing recognition that magnet dependency represents a critical vulnerability. China's monopoly over the entire magnet value chain makes export restrictions particularly effective weapons of economic coercion.

Since April 2025, new Chinese export controls have highlighted just how precarious Europe's position has become, jeopardizing both industrial competitiveness and the ambitious green transition that depends on millions of new electric motors and wind turbines.

Scaling Up for Strategic Impact

The €23 million in funding represents a transitional round, setting the stage for much more ambitious expansion. The immediate goal is to build a semi-industrial pilot line targeting 50 tons of recycled magnets annually by 2026, but that's just the appetizer.

The main course is the MagFactory, planned for 2028 with an eventual capacity of 1,000 tons per year, 15 to 20 times greater than the current Noyarey facility. When operating at full capacity, the factory could generate revenues around €100 million annually while producing enough recycled magnets to power millions of electric motors.

MagREEsource is already collaborating with industrial champions like Renault, Valeo, and Lacroix Group, providing the technological backbone for next-generation electric vehicles and autonomous systems. These partnerships validate both the performance of their recycled magnets and the market appetite for alternatives to Chinese suppliers.

As climate pressures, geopolitical tensions, and technological nationalism converge, MagREEsource finds itself at the epicenter of Europe's quest for strategic autonomy. The company's low-carbon magnets may seem like a niche industrial product, but they represent something far more significant: proof that Europe can reclaim control over critical supply chains through innovation rather than military force or economic coercion.

With around 50 employees and plans to hire 10-15 more positions in 2025, the company is already generating its first revenues while preparing for what Petit describes as a "much larger" funding round to accelerate growth toward the MagFactory milestone.

"MagREEsource demonstrates that technology and the circular economy can solve a sovereignty problem," Petit said. "We are proud to lead a reindustrialization project in France that delivers high added value and creates jobs."