Consumer demand for fuel efficiency and strict regulations have pushed automotive and transportation companies to replace conventional materials with lightweight alternatives. Magnesium is appealing for its low weight, but its limited strength restricts widespread use. In the current investigation, magnesium/silicon carbide (SiC) composite with 5.1 % SiC reinforcement were produced using a stir-casting setup, followed by extrusion. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the extruded magnesium/SiC composite and pure magnesium were then evaluated and compared with their unprocessed counterparts. The results showed that the grain size of the extruded composite decreased from 170 μm to less than 35 μm, microhardness improved from 70 Hv to 92 Hv, yield strength and percentage elongation increased by 30 % and 78 %, respectively, as compared with their as-cast counterpart. In the case of pure magnesium, grain size was refined from millimeter scale to 110 μm, microhardness improved from 34 Hv to 43 Hv, and yield strength and elongation increased by 7 % and 69 % over as-cast magnesium. These improvements are attributed to extrusion eliminating defects inherent to the stir-casting process such as porosity and reinforcement agglomeration and aligning reinforcement particles in orientations that promote better mechanical performance.