NOverview
Niron Magnetics makes sustainable, high-performance permanent magnets for devices, motors, and generators. It uses Clean Earth Magnet technology to mass-produce magnets from abundant materials by altering the crystal structure of Iron Nitride through nanomaterial engineering and established metallurgical methods. This creates magnets that perform as well as or better than traditional magnets while reducing reliance on rare earth elements and lowering environmental impact, with a focus on stable, cost-effective manufacturing. The company differentiates itself by offering a greener, more affordable alternative to rare earth magnets, aiming to scale magnet production for widespread use in consumer, industrial, and automotive applications.
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About Niron Magnetics
Industries
Company Size
51-200
Company Stage
Debt Financing
Total Funding
$322.6M
Headquarters
Minneapolis, MN
Founded
2014
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Simplify's take
What believers are saying
- Honda invested September 9, 2026, adding credibility for automotive commercialization.
- Moog will showcase Niron actuators at AUSA 2026, strengthening defense demand.
- SMSC’s $150 million loan and OSC backing fund construction toward 1,500 tons annually.
What critics are saying
- OSC’s $150 million loan still needs due diligence and minimum equity, delaying close.
- Sartell’s 2027 startup hinges on flawless scale-up from 1-to-2-ton pilot output.
- If qualification slips, China-dominated rare-earth incumbents will lock in motor customers.
What makes Niron Magnetics unique
- Niron commercializes iron nitride magnets, eliminating rare earths entirely.
- Sartell’s 287,000-square-foot plant targets integrated material-to-magnet production.
- Moog, Honda, and Aspina validate Niron across defense, mobility, and motors.
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Funding
Total Funding
$322.6M
Above
Industry Average
Funded Over
10 Rounds
Benefits
- 401(k) Retirement Plan
- 401(k) Company Match
- Health Insurance
- Dental Insurance
- Vision Insurance
- Wellness Program
- Mental Health Support
- Unlimited Paid Time Off
- Paid Vacation
- Paid Sick Leave
- Paid Holidays
- Hybrid Work Options
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
4%1 year growth
4%2 year growth
4%Niron Magnetics, a Minneapolis maker of rare-earth-free iron nitride permanent magnets, has been named a CES 2027 Innovation Awards Honoree in the Vehicle Tech & Advanced Mobility category. The Consumer Technology Association owns and produces the awards. The magnets are made from abundant iron and nitrogen. Most high-performance magnets rely on rare earth elements, whose supply chains are concentrated and volatile. Niron's customers and partners include General Motors, Honda, Stellantis, Samsung, and Moog. The company is building a full-scale plant in Sartell, Minnesota, expected to begin production in late 2027. A second high-volume plant, planned for 2029, could produce up to 10,000 tons of magnets a year. Niron will exhibit at Booth 6652, West Hall, Las Vegas Convention Center, January 6–9, 2027.
Overcoming limitations of Electric motors: the case for magnet-free solutions. * October 5, 2026 * Alex Ingram Electric vehicle motors have built their performance around rare-earth magnets for so long that the dependency reads as a law of physics rather than a design choice. But the concentrated supply chain, price volatility and environmental footprint behind those magnets are now forcing a harder question: whether torque density, efficiency and manufacturability can be delivered without them. This piece traces that argument from the incumbent's constraints through the alternative architectures emerging to replace it, and the system-level engineering that separates a workable magnet-free motor from a theoretical one. Understanding Electric motor technology. Electric traction motors have long been built around permanent-magnet synchronous machines, because neodymium-based magnets supply strong, constant rotor flux without any rotor excitation power draw. That magnetic energy density enables compact machines with high efficiency, power density and torque control, the combination that made them the default EV choice [[1]]. That performance package, however, embeds a material decision directly into the motor's architecture. The motor's architecture becomes tied to magnets whose composition and processing carry cost, supply-security and environmental exposure [[1]]. Lower-cost ferrite magnets sidestep the rare-earth input, but need substantially more material to approach comparable performance, adding mass and cutting efficiency [[2]]. The industry's instinct has been to treat this trade as fixed, strong magnets or weaker ones, with no third option. That assumption is exactly what a magnet-free architecture is built to break, by removing the material decision from the rotor entirely rather than hunting for a cheaper magnet. Innovative design approaches in magnet-free motors. Magnet-free synchronous motors replace that fixed magnetic material with an electrically generated field. Rotor excitation current establishes controllable flux, and the stator's three-phase field interacts with it to produce torque. Unlike a permanent magnet, whose strength is set once by material choice, excitation can be adjusted with operating conditions, turning field strength into a design variable rather than a purchased component. That flexibility only pays off if it's designed in from the outset, not bolted onto an existing rotor. The excitation method, winding layout, control strategy and thermal path together determine whether the machine converts electrical input into usable torque without excessive losses, since generating a field electrically also means paying a power cost for it that a permanent magnet never incurs. Other players are tackling the rare-earth problem from different angles: Moog and Niron Magnetics are developing motor technology built around iron-nitride magnets rather than removing the rotor's field source altogether, and Valeo has introduced rare-earth-free drone motors for a smaller power class [[3]] [[4]]. Both confirm the industry is moving away from rare-earth dependence, but neither removes the rotor field source itself the way a magnet-free design does. Challenges of conventional designs. The incumbent's power density and torque control come at the price of a supply chain that is structurally concentrated. In 2020, China accounted for 58% of rare-earth mining and 92% of magnet production [[5]]. That concentration leaves motor cost, production planning and design choices exposed to a supply chain outside any single manufacturer's control. The engineering trade-off compounds the commercial one: preserving rare-earth-magnet performance means designing around an expensive, supply-sensitive rotor material, and matching that performance without rare earths remains a persistent engineering challenge [[1]]. That framing, strong magnets or weaker ones, is precisely the constraint a system that removes the rotor magnet altogether is built to escape, rather than negotiate a smaller version of. Exploring alternative designs and their resilience. Resilience comes from separating torque production from rare-earth material availability, not from treating every magnet-free topology as interchangeable. Synchronous-reluctance rotors eliminate both magnets and rotor windings, avoiding any rotor electrical connection [[6]]. Wound-field synchronous designs strike a different balance: controllable rotor excitation can support high starting torque, field weakening and power-factor improvement without any permanent magnet. Oak Ridge National Laboratory describes a magnet-less synchronous reluctance architecture with brushless adjustable field excitation, showing that removing the magnet need not foreclose traction capability [[7]]. What separates a workable design from a theoretical one is whether excitation, heat removal and manufacturing are engineered together, since bolting rotor-side electronics onto an existing platform to supply that excitation current reintroduces the cost and complexity the magnet was supposed to remove. Magnetless solutions: A comprehensive approach. That is exactly where most electrically excited designs fall short: supplying rotor field current typically requires separate excitation hardware, which can raise system cost and reduce drive reliability. Treating excitation as part of the motor system from the start, rather than an add-on, lets torque production and thermal limits be managed together instead of accepting extra hardware as the unavoidable price of avoiding rare earths. Magnetless' UESM is built on that premise: it electrically excites its rotor while operating from a standard three-phase inverter, with no special power electronics and no extra rotor components. Because excitation, winding architecture, cooling and control are designed as one system rather than assembled from separate parts, the motor can be dropped into an existing permanent-magnet platform without requiring a new drive architecture. The result is an architecture aimed at removing both rare-earth exposure and the component-level compromises that have constrained earlier magnet-free alternatives. Conclusion: the importance of system-level thinking. Removing rare-earth magnets doesn't eliminate an engineering problem, it relocates it: into field generation, losses, heat rejection, control and production, each of which must be optimized together rather than solved in isolation. Rare-earth-free machines can face higher loss density and therefore need deliberate thermal management, and that cooling integration adds system complexity of its own [[1]]. Magnetless UESM takes a systems-level approach to loss mitigation through five layers of innovation, from electromagnetics and rotor design to thermal management. The relevant measure, then, is not whether a motor eliminates magnets in isolation, but whether it delivers the required torque, continuous power, efficiency and manufacturability within the vehicle's existing electrical architecture, without pushing the cost onto a new rotor power-electronics subsystem. That is the standard a credible alternative has to meet: system-level engineering that removes material dependence without simply moving its cost and complexity elsewhere in the drivetrain.
Moog and Niron Magnetics will showcase rare-earth-free motor technology at the Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting, 12–14 October in Washington, DC. The collaboration, announced in December 2025, focuses on developing electromechanical actuators using Niron's Iron Nitride permanent magnets for land vehicles and guided munitions. The technology aims to reduce US defence dependence on foreign-controlled critical mineral supply chains. Nearly all rare earth magnets currently used in Army precision systems come from a single foreign source, according to Niron CEO Jonathan Rowntree. Niron has produced magnets and conducted customer qualification since 2025, with commercial production planned within 18 months. The partnership supports the Department's Acquisition Transformation Strategy, emphasising domestically produced technologies.
Moog and Niron Magnetics to showcase rare-earth-free motor technology at AUSA 2026. PR Newswire Today at 6:15am PDT Companies to highlight joint work on Iron Nitride magnet-based motors for land and missile actuators while strengthening our domestic defense supply chain WASHINGTON, Oct. 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Moog Inc. (NYSE: MOG.A and MOG.B) and Niron Magnetics, the company commercializing the world's only high performance rare-earth-free Iron Nitride permanent magnets, will exhibit together at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) 2026 Annual Meeting and Exposition, October 12-14, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Attendees can visit the companies at Moog Booth #1947 to learn about their joint effort for rare-earth-free actuator solutions for land vehicles, guided munitions and other Army applications. The joint exhibit builds on the collaboration the two companies announced in December 2025. Moog, a worldwide designer, manufacturer and systems integrator of high-performance precision motion controls, is testing and qualifying Niron Magnetics' Iron Nitride permanent magnet technology in electromechanical actuators, the components that turn electrical signals into precise mechanical motion. By removing rare earth elements from these systems, the companies aim to reduce the U.S. defense industrial base's exposure to foreign-controlled critical mineral supply chains. "The Army is transforming quickly, and the systems soldiers rely on can only move as fast as the supply chains behind them," said Ryan Aures, Moog Land and Sea Systems Engineering Director. "Our work with Niron is about making sure a disruption never stands between the warfighter and the capability they need." "Rare earth magnets sit inside nearly every precision system the Army depends on, and today almost all of that supply runs through a single foreign source," said Jonathan Rowntree, CEO of Niron Magnetics. "Niron was built to change that. Showing our Iron Nitride technology alongside Moog at AUSA puts an American-made alternative directly in front of the leaders who will decide how resilient the next generation of Army systems will be." This year's AUSA theme, "America's Army: The Foundation of the Joint Force," focuses on Army transformation and readiness for future battlefields. The Moog-Niron collaboration supports that goal. It is aligned with the Department's Acquisition Transformation Strategy and its emphasis on drawing solutions from a broader industrial base, using domestically produced, commercially available technologies. At Booth 1947, visitors can: * See a display of Iron Nitride magnets in tested motor hardware * Talk with Moog and Niron engineers about program integration, qualification timelines and supply availability Permanent magnets are foundational components in the technologies that power the modern economy, from electric motors to artificial intelligence infrastructure to consumer electronics. Niron's Iron Nitride technology eliminates the need for rare earth materials entirely, offering a complement to federal and industry efforts to reshore rare earth supply chains. Moog contends that securing the US domestic magnet supply chain will require both strategies for future actuation designs. Niron has been producing magnets and conducting customer qualification since 2025 and is slated for commercial production in the next 18 months. ABOUT NIRON MAGNETICS Niron Magnetics is commercializing the world's first rare-earth-free Iron Nitride permanent magnets through a proprietary manufacturing platform designed to scale advanced materials innovation. The company's technology enables high-performance permanent magnets made without rare earths or other critical materials, supporting more resilient and domestic supply chains. Today, Niron's magnets power applications across artificial intelligence infrastructure, automotive, industrial, and consumer electronics. As the company scales manufacturing, its broader materials platform is creating new opportunities to develop the next generation of materials that power motion. To learn more about Niron's rare-earth-free magnet technology and its efforts to establish large-scale domestic manufacturing, visit nironmagnetics.com. ABOUT MOOG, INC. Moog is a worldwide designer, manufacturer, and systems integrator of high-performance precision motion and fluid controls and control systems. Moog's high-performance systems control military and commercial aircraft, satellites, and space vehicles, launch vehicles, defense systems, missiles, automated industrial machinery, marine, and medical equipment. Additional information about the Company can be found at www.moog.com or www.moog.com/defense. SOURCE Niron Magnetics, Inc. This is a paid placement. For further inquiries, please contact PR Newswire directly.
Honda Xcelerator Ventures invests in Niron Magnetics focused on advancing rare-earth-free permanent magnet technology. Honda Xcelerator Ventures is proud to announce an investment in Niron Magnetics focused on advancing rare-earth-free permanent magnet technology for next-generation mobility applications. Through Honda Xcelerator Ventures, Honda's global open innovation program, the investment reflects Honda's high expectations for Niron's innovative, next-generation rare-earth-free magnetic materials and will support the continued commercialization of its permanent magnet technology and the scaling of its manufacturing operations. Rare-earth-free permanent magnets represent an important opportunity for the future of electrified mobility by helping reduce dependence on constrained global supply chains while supporting long-term performance, cost stability, and sustainability goals. Niron's Iron Nitride magnet technology has potential applications across automotive, robotics, industrial automation, consumer electronics, and emerging mobility platforms. Together, the teams will continue advancing motor designs and related applications optimized to leverage the unique magnetic properties of Iron Nitride materials. "Niron Magnetics has an innovative permanent magnet technology that does not require rare earth materials. Most electric propulsion motors today use permanent magnets made from rare earth metals, which are subject to resource constraints and fluctuations in market conditions. Niron Magnetics is addressing these challenges, and Honda has high hopes for its potential." ー Mahito Shikama, Director, Executive Officer of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. As Honda continues to pursue its long-term vision for electrification and sustainability, partnerships through Honda Xcelerator Ventures remain a crucial part of accelerating innovation and supporting breakthrough technologies worldwide. About Niron Magnetics Niron Magnetics is commercializing the world's first rare-earth-free Iron Nitride permanent magnets through a proprietary manufacturing platform designed to scale advanced materials innovation. The company's technology enables high-performance permanent magnets made without rare earths or other critical materials, supporting more resilient and domestic supply chains. Today, Niron's magnets power applications across artificial intelligence infrastructure, automotive, industrial, and consumer electronics. As the company scales manufacturing, its broader materials platform is creating new opportunities to develop the next generation of materials that power motion. To learn more about Niron's rare-earth-free magnet technology and its efforts to establish large-scale domestic manufacturing, visit nironmagnetics.com.
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About Niron Magnetics
Industries
Company Size
51-200
Company Stage
Debt Financing
Total Funding
$322.6M
Headquarters
Minneapolis, MN
Founded
2014
Niron Magnetics is Hiring for 16 Jobs on Simplify!
Find jobs on Simplify and start your career today
Don't see your dream role? Check out thousands of other roles on Simplify.Browse all jobs