China has fired back at ongoing US sanctions by imposing restrictions on the export of two metals, Gallium and Germanium. The two metals play an important part in the semiconductor world, serving as crucial components in the manufacturing of chips in telecommunications and electric vehicles (EVs), things we in today’s society, tend to take for granted.
The announcement was made by China’s Ministry of Commerce earlier this week, and is expected to go into effect on 1 August. From then on, Chinese exporters of the Gallium and Germanium will need to apply for licenses from the ministry, should they wish to continue shipping said metals out of the country. Not only that, but the exporters will also need to provide details of their buyers, as well as their applications.
Unlike other precious metals like Gold, Silver, or Platinum, both Gallium and Germanium are considered niche metals, which means that they can be found around the world. But why China’s decision to restrict the flow of such metals is primarily due to the country being the largest supplier of both metals globally. Specifically, 94% of the former and 83% of the latter. Not only that, it also sells them at prices that are cheaper but that said, mining them can be expensive.
Again, Gallium is specifically used in the manufacturing of semiconductors, meaning you will find the metal within phones, while Germanium is used in more precision-based hardware and applications, such as fibre optics, night-vision goggles, solar panels, and LCD monitors too.
