Rare Earths, Strategic Minerals and Chips
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) identified 50 minerals as critical commodities for industry.
From this long list, semiconductors directly require silicon, iridium, boron and phosphorus; the rare earths involved are germanium and gallium.
China accounts for 98% of global raw gallium production and 67 percent of raw germanium production, according to the USGS data.
In July 2023, China announced stringent export quotas for these two rare earths—gallium and germanium—underscoring the country’s dominance in these supply chains.
Still, the United States consumed 19 tons of gallium wholly imported from Japan in 2023, thwarting China’s maneuver, according to the USGS data. Previously, China supplied 100% of U.S. imports.
Half of the germanium used in the same year came from Belgium. The amount was kept classified by the same source.
Rare earths are 15 metallic elements: dysprosium, erbium, europium, gadolinium, holmium, lanthanum, lutetium, neodymium, praseodymium, samarium, terbium, thulium, ytterbium and yttrium; all are considered strategic by the USGS.
Many of these elements are crucial to produce the lithography machines that create chip wafers; nevertheless, it should be noted that a cutting-edge device of this kind has components from around 5,000 suppliers.
Beijing recognizes vulnerabilities in producing high-speed chips and the machines to fabricate them, according to a translated report by Georgetown University. This follows recent sanctions barring access to cutting-edge components and machines to manufacture them.
