---
title: "A Looming Rare Earth Shortage Threatens Critical Tech"
url: https://daily.dev/posts/a-looming-rare-earth-shortage-threatens-critical-tech-ceejn20ot
source_url: https://spectrum.ieee.org/rare-earth-shortage
type: article
source: "IEEE Spectrum"
published: 2026-08-26T13:00:22.409Z
updated: 2026-08-26T13:02:09.695Z
tags: ["science", "clean-energy"]
reading_time: 17
upvotes: 0
comments: 0
language: en
---

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# A Looming Rare Earth Shortage Threatens Critical Tech

**[IEEE Spectrum](https://daily.dev/sources/ieeespectrum)** · 17 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

## Summary

Startups and researchers are racing to artificially produce hydrogen underground by fracturing iron-rich rocks with techniques like pulsed electrical power, heating, catalysts, and carbon dioxide injection. Massachusetts-based Eden GeoPower uses custom Marx generators (Zeus and Thor) to shoot high-voltage pulses that fracture hard rock and expose iron to water, triggering a hydrogen-releasing chemical reaction. ARPA-E awarded $20 million in 2024 to 16 teams pursuing similar stimulation approaches, but none have yet proven commercially viable production rates, with challenges including rapid decline in output, mineral clogging, and unresolved questions about purification, storage, and regulation.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://spectrum.ieee.org/rare-earth-shortage>

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---

Tags: [#science](https://daily.dev/tags/science), [#clean-energy](https://daily.dev/tags/clean-energy)

[View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/a-looming-rare-earth-shortage-threatens-critical-tech-ceejn20ot)