Friday, 07 July 2023 11:24 AM
According to a circular issued by China’s ministry of commerce, export controls will be imposed in order to safeguard Chinese national security and interests.
On Thursday, the Pentagon said it holds a strategic US stockpile for germanium but currently has no inventory reserves for gallium.
Reports said while major defense contractors like Lockheed Martin Corp may not buy gallium and germanium directly, they likely purchase semiconductors from suppliers who source Chinese gallium and germanium.
Europe and the United States have been scrambling in recent years to restart domestic production of rare earths, lithium and other raw materials used in electric vehicles (EVs) and to wean themselves from dependence on China.
The European Raw Materials Fund is due to start with around 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion), but eventually the region will need more than 100 billion euros in investment to produce enough critical minerals, according to Bernd Schaefer, chief executive of EU-funded EIT Raw Materials.
In April, the bloc passed the European Chips Act to manufacture its own cutting-edge computer chips, saying it did not want to be relegated to a position on research or in building relatively older chips.
EU industry chief Thierry Breton said then the union was sending a strong signal to all that Europe was open for business.
The study center of Iran Entrepreneurs Forum has called for serious plans to use foreign financial resources to launch rare mineral extraction projects and their production in the country.
It has said that cooperation with industrialized countries such as Germany on manufacturing chips can help Iran enter the club of the countries in production and export of high-tech parts.
Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade has already set up a specialized department for the production and processing of rare elements such as gallium.
In early 2020, the then head of Iran’s largest holding in metals sector known as IMIDRO said the country had launched a pilot project for extraction of rare earths after obtaining the technology for deep-level mining.
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