Should you second-source this before one supplier can stop you?
A sole-source or foreign-controlled part — transformers, HVDC cable, inverters, permanent magnets — is one event away from halting a project. The question is which one is worth the cost of a second source, and which can wait.
Settled as the Second-Source Evidence PackSome single points are cheap insurance to second-source; most aren’t worth the spend. The trouble is telling them apart without a traced, evidenced read of where you’re actually single-threaded — and what each dependency would really cost you to lose.
Where you’re single-threaded — and what it would cost.
Typical reader: a procurement or operations director.
The dependency is paused, not removed; the order book is already long.
On 7 November 2025 China suspended — but did not withdraw — its rare-earth and permanent-magnet export controls; the licence regime that bites where Chinese-origin rare earths reach 0.1% of an item’s value is paused only to 10 November 2026, and can be switched back on at will. Meanwhile the IEA reported (25 February 2025) large-power-transformer lead times of up to four years and HVDC cables beyond five. Both point to second-sourcing before the order book — or a policy reversal — bites. See what changed →