China has secured a virtual monopoly over gallium, a critical mineral used to produce microchips in advanced military technologies. Failing to de-risk gallium supply chains could have serious security and economic consequences for the United States and its allies.
Plays stupid games, win stupid prizes as the saying goes.
You keep using this chart, but it doesn’t mean anything. Just because most countries don’t produce Gallium, doesn’t mean that they’re not easily capable of it. It’s just cheaper for companies to source Chinese gallium. If it were in sharp demand, it would become profitable for domestic refineries to produce.
It means that producing gallium is going to require a significant amount of time. You can’t just magically will mines, refineries, and supply chains into existence. This is going to take years to do. Meanwhile, since China has fully domestic supply chains right now, it’s going to be Chinese companies dominating the global market while these alternative supply chains are built out for western companies.
You keep using this chart, but it doesn’t mean anything. Just because most countries don’t produce Gallium, doesn’t mean that they’re not easily capable of it. It’s just cheaper for companies to source Chinese gallium. If it were in sharp demand, it would become profitable for domestic refineries to produce.
It means that producing gallium is going to require a significant amount of time. You can’t just magically will mines, refineries, and supply chains into existence. This is going to take years to do. Meanwhile, since China has fully domestic supply chains right now, it’s going to be Chinese companies dominating the global market while these alternative supply chains are built out for western companies.