Mineral Monopoly: China’s Control over Gallium Is a National Security Threat
features.csis.org
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.
  • TomJoadsGhost@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    Seems silly. China is doing almost all the refining but they don’t have a monopoly of the extraction of the originating mineral. There’s a lot of it in Australia, and the US could pivot to doing its own refinement at any time.

    • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      51·
      1 year ago

      The thing is that it’s going to take a significant amount of time to create refining facilities, train workers, and so on. During that time, Chinese companies will have a huge market advantage over western ones.