The Pentagon awards $200 million contracts to Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI to develop AI systems for US defense and national security operations

The Pentagon has signed a contract for as much as $200 million to deploy Grok, the AI chatbot developed by Elon Musk's xAI, across the Defense Department. The deal represents a major push to bring cutting-edge artificial intelligence into federal government operations.

MP Materials, which runs the only American rare earths mine, announced a new $500 million agreement with tech giant Apple on Tuesday to produce more of the powerful magnets used in iPhones as well as other high-tech products like electric vehicles.

The U.S. Department of Defense plans to continue working with rare earths companies to ensure diverse American supply of the critical minerals used across the economy, a defense official told Reuters on Tuesday.

Apple Inc. has struck a $500 million deal to buy rare-earth minerals from MP Materials Corp., the US producer that just last week secured backing from the Pentagon.