China Restricts Export of Rare Metals Used in High-Performance Chips; Expert Says Move Mainly for Propagandahttps://www.theepochtimes.com/china-restricts-export-of-rare-metals-used-in-high-performance-chips-expert-says-move-mainly-for-propaganda_5377246.html?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=BonginoReportThe Chinese Communist Party’s announcement of new state controls that restrict exports of gallium and germanium on July 3 is retaliation for the West’s chip sanctions on the regime, according to a Taiwan-based defense expert.
Su Tzu-yun, director of the Institute for National Defense Security Research in Taiwan, said that the move by China’s Ministry of Commerce and Customs related to the key rare earth metals used in making semiconductors is only symbolic in nature, as it will have a limited effect on the global chip industry. He said that the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) retaliation, effective on Aug. 1, will only accelerate the “de-risking” priorities of the United States and Europe, which may see China lose its current dominant position in the rare metal industry.
So, yes, these metals are a key ingredient in high performance ICs. OTOH, this is more than an empty symbol, in the short term. The US has a strategic reserve of Germanium, and there are other producers who probably could boost production, and eventually bring more capacity online.
OTOH, The US has no strategic reserve of Gallium, and China is far and away the largest producer thereof. So in the short term IC manufacturers will have to make do with whatever they have on hand and whatever is in the distribution pipeline. However, Gallium is a secondary product from extracting Aluminum from Bauxite, and facilities for processing Gallium could be set up outside of China and brought online. How quickly, ? It'd be a race between consumption of existing supplies and bring new production online.
In the long run - a year or three out - this will decrease the world's reliance on China as a source of exotic materials.
