China’s Gallium and germanium controls: What they mean and what could happen next

Subject: Geography

Section: Economic geography

Context:

From August, China is to restrict exports of gallium and germanium, two critical elements for making semiconductor chips.

Germanium:

Germanium is particularly useful in space technologies such as solar cells because it is more resistant to cosmic radiation than silicon.
It is already used in small quantities in some semiconductors to improve things like electron flow and thermal conductivity.

Production and export of Germanium:

China controls about 60% of all germanium supplies.
The element is derived in two main ways:
1. As a by-product of zinc production and
2. From coal
Germanium from zinc production:
- China dominates germanium that comes from zinc production.
- The US is one of the alternative suppliers, with deposits in Alaska and Tennessee and additional refining capacity in
- But the US is still over 50% reliant on imported Germanium.
Germanium from coal:
- Two of the main producers are Russia and Ukraine (Russia-Ukraine has impacted the supply chain to the West).
- Environmental concerns and pledges to phase out of coal power have threatened the production of germanium via this method.

Gallium:

As for gallium, 95% of it is used in a material called gallium arsenide, which is used in semiconductors with higher performance and lower power-consumption applications than silicon.
These are used in blue and violet LEDs and microwave devices.
Gallium nitride is used in semiconductors in components for things like electric vehicles, sensors, high-end radio communications, LEDs and Blu-Ray players.

Production and export of Gallium:

China accounts for around 80% of the world’s supply of Gallium.
- It is mainly derived from aluminium production.
- Gallium is also obtained by recycling semiconductor wafers, which are thin slices of semiconductor used in electronic circuits.
- A Nature Communications paper in 2022 noted that gallium is “almost never functionally recycled” once it reaches final products.