Rare Earth Metals

Riverside, Calif., May 1, 2025

Dear Customer,

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) recently tightened restrictions on the export of certain minerals, commonly referred to as rare earth metals, and magnets made from them¹. These rare earth metals are used in a variety of industries worldwide and the PRC controls a significant percentage of the global rare earth metals production.

Bourns reached out to our supply chain to ascertain if suppliers are affected by the new export restrictions. The vast majority have reported no impact. However, Bourns does have end products that contain certain rare earth magnets, which are in part sourced from the PRC and are now export restricted:

• Certain rare earth magnets are used in a handful of custom Bourns® products. Bourns is working with suppliers to obtain the necessary export licenses. Since these products are custom, the affected customers have been notified directly.
• Certain rare earth magnets are used in three Bourns® standard industrial AMS220, AMS22 and EMS22 sensor series manufactured at our Tijuana, Mexico plant. The supplier of these rare earth magnets has confirmed there is no supply risk to the supply chain.

If the situation changes with rare earth metals and/or magnets, we will provide an update to each of you on the status of your shipments through customer support.

We thank you for your continued trust in Bourns. We are committed to helping mitigate the impact of these current export-related measures, which are beyond our control. Bourns continues its dedication to the highest quality customer service and handling these dynamic circumstances in the most expeditious manner possible.

Sincerely,
Bourns, Inc.

James Harrington
Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales

 

 

 

¹ April 4th, 2025: Scandium, Yttrium, Lanthanum, Cerium, Praseodymium, Neodymium, Promethium, Samarium, Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium, Lutetium.