GEBENG — Workers load tonnes of rare earth minerals into bags ready for shipping at a refinery in eastern Malaysia, fuelling the global pushback against China’s grip on the critical sector.

Rare earths are a key ingredient in products ranging from smartphones to fighter jets, electric cars, and wind turbines – and increasingly for hardware powering the artificial intelligence boom.

Global jitters about Beijing’s dominance as a rare earths producer have kicked Australian mining giant Lynas into action, expanding its portfolio of rare earths refined in Malaysia as it hopes to boost its approximately 10 per cent share of the market.

China makes up the other 90 per cent of the world’s market, stoking fears about Beijing’s ability to choke global supplies. “China has built its success on executing a clear industrial plan – it takes us to be serious about it,” Lynas’s chief executive.

Pushing against Chinese dominance will “take discipline, focus and clear planning”, she said during a rare press visit to the company’s sprawling chemical plant in Malaysia’s Gebeng industrial hub, near the coastal city of Kuantan.