Mobix Labs Signs LOI to Acquire Special Project Delivery, Expanding Into U.S. Rare Earth and Critical Minerals Infrastructure for Defense and National Security
Mobix Labs,has announced that it has entered into a non-binding Letter of Intent (LOI) to acquire Special Project Delivery LLC (SPD), a U.S.-based strategic infrastructure platform focused on building sovereign supply chains for rare earth elements, critical minerals, and energy storage systems. The proposed transaction marks a significant potential expansion for Mobix Labs beyond its core advanced communications and semiconductor technologies, positioning the company within one of the most geopolitically sensitive and rapidly evolving industrial sectors in the world.
If completed, the acquisition would align Mobix Labs more directly with the defense, aerospace, and national security supply chain ecosystem by integrating SPD’s domestic critical minerals platform with Mobix’s existing role as a supplier of advanced components used in mission-critical systems for U.S. and allied defense programs.
Strategic Expansion Into a High-Priority National Security Sector
Mobix Labs stated that the potential acquisition reflects a broader strategic vision to participate in the strengthening of U.S. industrial resilience, particularly in areas considered essential to defense readiness and technological sovereignty.
Special Project Delivery LLC has developed a platform centered on reducing U.S. dependency on foreign-controlled supply chains for rare earth elements and critical minerals—materials widely recognized as essential to modern defense systems, aerospace technologies, electric energy storage, and advanced computing infrastructure.
The companies emphasized that rare earth materials are embedded across nearly every advanced military platform, including fighter jets, submarines, missile systems, radar systems, and space-based technologies.
Key Industry Context: Why Rare Earths Matter
The announcement highlighted several widely cited industry benchmarks underscoring the strategic importance of rare earth materials in defense systems:
- Approximately 418 kilograms of rare earth materials are used in each F-35 Lightning II fighter jet
- Roughly 4,500 kilograms are required in each Virginia-class nuclear submarine
- Rare earth materials are also essential components in advanced missile systems, including Patriot and THAAD interceptors, as well as Tomahawk and Javelin systems
- They are critical for advanced radar, satellite systems, and electronic warfare platforms
These materials are also increasingly vital beyond defense applications, playing a central role in:
- Artificial intelligence data centers
- Electric vehicle batteries and motors
- Renewable energy systems such as wind turbines
- Advanced semiconductors and precision electronics
Industry observers have frequently described rare earths as the “oil” of the modern industrial economy due to their irreplaceable role in high-performance technologies.
Geopolitical Pressure Driving Supply Chain Realignment
The proposed acquisition comes at a time of heightened global concern regarding supply chain security for critical minerals. China currently dominates a significant share of global rare earth mining and refining capacity, a concentration that has prompted long-term strategic responses from the United States and allied nations.
Governments and defense alliances, including NATO, AUKUS, and Five Eyes partners, have publicly identified rare earth independence as a critical national security priority over the coming decade.
Additionally, beginning in 2027, new U.S. Department of Defense procurement restrictions related to Chinese-origin rare earth magnet materials are expected to further accelerate demand for secure, allied-controlled supply chains.
Against this backdrop, global investment in critical minerals infrastructure is already expanding rapidly, with tens of billions of dollars being deployed today and projections suggesting that total investment could reach hundreds of billions over the next decade.
Leadership Commentary on Strategic Timing
James Peterson, Chairman of the Board of Mobix Labs and former Chief Executive Officer of Microsemi, emphasized the long-term strategic importance of the rare earth and critical minerals sector in relation to defense and aerospace supply chains.
“In my decades leading Microsemi, I watched our defense and aerospace customers grow increasingly dependent on a narrow set of strategic materials they could not always source securely,” Peterson said. “Today, rare earths and critical minerals have become one of the defining competitive battlegrounds of the next decade.”
He added that Special Project Delivery represents a timely and strategically aligned platform:
“SPD is the right platform at exactly the right moment — federally aligned, technically validated, and assembled by an exceptional team. We believe the combination with SPD provides Mobix Labs and its shareholders substantial long-term opportunity.”
Special Project Delivery’s Role in U.S. Critical Minerals Strategy
Founded in 2019, Special Project Delivery LLC has positioned itself as a U.S.-focused critical minerals and energy infrastructure platform designed to support federal initiatives aimed at strengthening domestic industrial capacity.
The company’s activities are aligned with several major U.S. policy frameworks and programs, including:
- Project Vault, a $12 billion U.S. Export-Import Bank-backed public-private partnership focused on critical resource resilience
- The Defense Production Act (DPA), which enables federal support for strategic industrial capacity
- The Department of Energy Loan Programs Office, which funds energy and infrastructure transformation projects
SPD’s operational model includes the recovery of rare earth elements from underutilized domestic feedstock, including legacy materials such as coal ash. These extraction processes are developed and validated in collaboration with U.S. defense research partners.
The company is also publicly aligned with the U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and multiple major utility participants, alongside institutional financial partners supporting infrastructure-scale deployment.
Leadership Behind SPD
Special Project Delivery is led by Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Paul Singarella, a former Latham & Watkins attorney trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), bringing legal, technical, and policy expertise to the platform.
Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer John Dewey also plays a key leadership role, bringing experience overseeing more than $2 billion in infrastructure development projects. Together, the leadership team has focused on building a scalable domestic supply chain model designed to serve long-term national security and industrial requirements.
Strategic Integration With Defense and Aerospace Ecosystems
Mobix Labs currently supplies advanced technologies used in defense, aerospace, and high-performance communications systems. The company noted that its existing technologies already interface with platforms that depend heavily on rare earth materials, including radar systems, electronic warfare systems, and aerospace communications infrastructure.
The proposed combination with SPD would extend Mobix Labs’ presence deeper into the upstream supply chain, potentially enabling greater integration between material sourcing, component development, and defense system deployment.
Executives emphasized that this alignment could help support broader efforts by the United States and its allies to build resilient, non-China-dependent supply chains for critical defense materials.
Allied Nations Accelerating Supply Chain Independence
The global race to secure rare earth and critical mineral independence is not limited to the United States. Countries across the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and India are actively investing in domestic extraction, processing, and refining capabilities.
These initiatives are increasingly coordinated through defense and economic alliances aimed at reducing exposure to geopolitical risks and ensuring continuity of supply for advanced technologies.
The proposed Mobix Labs–SPD transaction would position the combined platform within this broader international framework, potentially enabling participation in allied supply chain initiatives spanning defense, energy, and high-technology manufacturing sectors.
Executive Perspective From SPD
Paul Singarella, Co-Founder and CEO of Special Project Delivery, described the strategic rationale behind the potential combination with Mobix Labs.
“SPD was built to onshore the materials, technologies, and infrastructure defining national sovereignty in the 21st century — rare earths, critical minerals, and the energy systems powering the AI Industrial Revolution,” Singarella said.
He added that the combination with Mobix Labs would strengthen the platform’s reach into defense and aerospace ecosystems:
“A combination with Mobix Labs would pair our platform directly with a publicly traded defense and dual-use technology company already operating inside the defense and aerospace ecosystems our materials are built to supply.”
Transaction Structure and Next Steps
Mobix Labs confirmed that the Letter of Intent with Special Project Delivery is non-binding and serves as an initial framework for further due diligence, evaluation, and negotiation of definitive agreements.
The companies will now evaluate the technical, financial, operational, and regulatory aspects of a potential transaction. However, Mobix Labs emphasized that there is no assurance that a definitive agreement will be reached or that the proposed acquisition will ultimately be completed.
Positioning at the Intersection of Defense, Materials, and Industrial Policy
If finalized, the acquisition would represent a notable strategic shift for Mobix Labs, moving the company closer to the upstream foundation of defense and advanced industrial supply chains.
By integrating into the rare earth and critical minerals ecosystem, Mobix Labs would position itself within a sector increasingly viewed as central to national security, technological leadership, and geopolitical competition.
At a time when governments and industries are accelerating efforts to secure resilient and sovereign supply chains, the proposed combination underscores the growing convergence of defense technology, materials science, and industrial policy in shaping the next decade of global competition.
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