Elmet Group takes $125m stake in Masan to secure tungsten supply
The Elmet Group (NASDAQ: ELMT) has announced a $124.75 million investment in Vietnam-based Masan High-Tech Materials (UPCoM: MSR), acquiring a 4.99% equity stake and entering into multi-year commercial agreements that formalise a supply relationship stretching back more than twelve years. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory and corporate approvals.
Under the commercial terms, MSR will supply Elmet with mined tungsten from the Nui Phao Mine in Thai Nguyen Province and provide tungsten conversion services from its adjacent refining complex. In return, Elmet gains a seat on MSR's board and will support the Vietnamese company's planned uplisting to the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, as well as a prospective international listing. The parties said they intend to pursue increased refining throughput, new product development, and expanded international customer reach.
A vertically integrated tungsten chain
The transaction brings together two complementary positions in the tungsten value chain. MSR operates upstream, running one of the world's largest tungsten deposits and an integrated refinery that processes concentrate into high-purity tungsten chemicals. Elmet sits downstream, converting those materials into precision-engineered components for aerospace, defence, semiconductor, medical, and energy customers. Together the two companies cover the supply chain from ore to finished part: mining, concentration, chemical conversion, powder production, pressing, sintering, forming, and precision machining.
Chief executive Peter Anania said the investment builds on a landmark US Government commitment of $450 million announced on 14 September 2026, which was intended to bolster Elmet's position as a vertically integrated, US-based provider of critical materials. MSR chairman Danny Le noted that the technologies defining the current era, including artificial intelligence and semiconductors, are dependent on tungsten, and that very few facilities outside China are capable of producing and refining it at commercial scale.
Market context and strategic significance
Tungsten sits at the centre of a growing geopolitical contest over critical-materials supply chains. China accounts for the large majority of global tungsten mining and refining capacity, making non-Chinese sources strategically important to Western governments and their industrial bases. MSR, described in the release as the world's largest producer of midstream and downstream tungsten products outside China, is therefore a commercially significant asset for any manufacturer seeking to reduce exposure to Chinese supply.
The US Government's involvement, via the $450 million commitment disclosed earlier in September, signals that the Elmet-MSR relationship has moved beyond commercial convenience into the domain of industrial policy. Similar structures, where private capital is leveraged alongside public investment to secure upstream access to critical minerals, have become a recurring pattern across lithium, cobalt, and rare-earth supply chains. Tungsten is now following the same trajectory, driven in part by its irreplaceable role in cutting tools, armour-piercing munitions, and semiconductor fabrication equipment.
Investors will note that the 4.99% stake sits just below most disclosure thresholds that would trigger mandatory tender-offer or significant-shareholder requirements under Vietnamese corporate law, suggesting the structure was carefully calibrated. Elmet and MSR have indicated this is an opening position in a broader relationship, and both sides have left room for the equity relationship to deepen as refining throughput and product development milestones are met.
The deal is subject to standard closing conditions. No breakup fee or lock-up period was disclosed in the release.