Producer
Metglas, Inc.
Conway, South Carolina-based company and the only US manufacturer of amorphous metal ribbon for energy-efficient transformer cores. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Proterial Ltd. (formerly Hitachi Metals, Japan). As US DOE efficiency regulations mandate amorphous core distribution transformers, Metglas is the sole-source US supplier — but its production is controlled by a Japanese company whose parent is Hitachi.
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Amorphous Metal Ribbon — Distribution Transformer Cores
65%Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) Anti-Theft Sensors
20%Industrial Sensing & Magnetostrictive Materials
15%
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Did you know2023
Metglas's amorphous iron-silicon-boron (Fe-Si-B) ribbon serves two completely unrelated markets from the same Conway, South Carolina production line: (1) distribution transformer cores, where the amorphous microstructure reduces power loss (watts/kg) by 60-70% vs grain-oriented silicon steel — enabling energy-efficient neighborhood power transformers; and (2) electronic article surveillance (EAS) anti-theft sensor tags, where the same soft magnetic properties create a resonant frequency detectable by retail security gates. The strip inside a security tag at a retail clothing store or library book is the same Fe-Si-B amorphous metal ribbon used to wind transformer cores for neighborhood electrical distribution. One US facility in South Carolina produces the material inside both the grid transformers that power your house and the anti-theft system that protects the books you borrow.
Metglas, Inc. ↗Capacity2024
Metglas is the sole US domestic producer of amorphous metal ribbon for energy-efficient distribution transformer cores — yet it is wholly owned by Proterial Ltd. (formerly Hitachi Metals), a Japanese company that is itself a subsidiary of Hitachi Corporation. As the US Department of Energy (DOE) has progressively tightened distribution transformer efficiency standards (most recently the 2024/2027 rulemaking requiring ~90% of new distribution transformers to meet efficiency levels best achieved with amorphous cores), demand for Metglas ribbon has become strategically important for US grid infrastructure. This creates a policy contradiction: US energy efficiency regulations are pushing utilities toward amorphous core transformers, but the sole domestic source for the critical core material is Japanese-controlled. If US-Japan trade relations deteriorated or Japan imposed export controls on amorphous metals (analogous to Chinese gallium export controls), there is no alternative US domestic source.
US Department of Energy / Federal Register ↗Origin2023
Metglas was originally a brand name created by Allied Chemical Corporation (US) in the 1970s when Allied developed the melt-spinning process for amorphous metal ribbon — rapidly quenching molten metal onto a spinning copper wheel to freeze it into a disordered (amorphous) atomic structure. The name 'Metglas' combines 'metal' and 'glass,' reflecting the glassy non-crystalline structure. Allied Chemical licensed the technology and eventually the business was acquired by Honeywell and later spun off as an independent company, now owned by Proterial Ltd. (formerly Hitachi Metals). Metglas's Conway, South Carolina facility has been the only US domestic amorphous metal ribbon manufacturer for decades — making it a sole-source domestic supplier for US distribution transformer efficiency programs, despite being Japanese-owned.
Metglas, Inc. (Proterial Ltd.) ↗