🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

China’s gallium controls tighten in stages, not one clean cutoff

• China dominated supply in 2024, producing 98% of the world’s primary low-purity gallium 1.
• Controls shifted from export licensing in July 2023 to a near-ban on shipments to the U.S. by December 2024 1.
• Limits also cover expertise. China added certain gallium extraction technologies in early 2025, including ion-exchange or resin-based methods that use chemical materials to separate gallium from other substances 1.
• Prices diverged after the rules tightened. Gallium sold outside China in early 2024 ran at nearly double the domestic Chinese price 1.

Shortages are pushing larger inventories and exposing defense gaps

• Uncertainty has led compound semiconductor and chipmaking manufacturers to move away from just-in-time inventory, building raw material stockpiles despite added cost 2.
• Defense exposure is high. 85% of U.S. defense supply chains that include gallium contain at least one Chinese supplier 1.
• Systems such as radar on the F-35 Lightning II (a U.S. stealth fighter jet) depend on gallium nitride (GaN) components, yet gallium is not in the National Defense Stockpile (a U.S. government reserve of critical materials) 1.
• Other inputs can become pinch points. Chipmaking also draws on materials like hafnium, cobalt, and rare earths, alongside gallium and helium 3.