AMG Critical Materials N.V. announces the opening today of its chrome metal production facility in New Castle, Pennsylvania. With this $15 million investment and planned annual capacity of 6,500 tons, AMG Chrome is set to become the sole producer of chrome metal in the United States.
The new facility addresses a long-standing deficit in the U.S. critical materials supply chain as chrome metal is a key ingredient in advanced alloys, and demand is accelerating. It is essential to the nickel-chromium superalloys in jet engines such as the LEAP engine, to space-launch vehicles including rockets such as SpaceX’s Starship, and to clean-energy systems such as solid oxide fuel cells. In establishing a significant US-based production facility, AMG is helping to secure a domestic source for this essential material.
Only three plants in the Western world produce chrome metal — two of them now AMG’s, in the United Kingdom and the United States — with the rest in China and Russia. Until today, the United States imported 100% of its chrome metal, a supply-chain and national-security risk that places chrome metal among the most critical of materials.
AMG is already an established producer: through AMG Chrome, it has made chrome metal in Rotherham, United Kingdom, since 1938 with current capacity totaling 15,000 tons, supplying customers worldwide. New Castle extends that proven capability to the United States and marks the re-birth of domestic production, which the country lost when its last chrome metal plant closed in 2006.
“Chrome is now being recognized at a level commensurate with its strategic importance to modern manufacturing — a long-overdue acknowledgment of its essential contribution to the industry. Chrome metal enhances the performance, durability, and heat resistance of advanced alloys. And with our new high-purity chrome metal facility, AMG is onshoring the production of a material deemed critical for U.S. national security,” said Dr. Heinz Schimmelbusch, Chairman of the Management Board and CEO.
Over the past several years, AMG Critical Materials has invested more than $400 million into its U.S. operations, including facilities which produce chrome, vanadium, and titanium. These investments reflect AMG’s long-term commitment to strengthening domestic manufacturing and supporting critical material supply chains.
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