China to impose Export control on Germanium and Gallium

China to impose Export control on Germanium and Gallium

News: According to some news sources, China has decided to place Germanium and gallium under exports control order starting from August 1, 2023, “to protect national security and interests”.

Background:
• Exporters of these raw materials will need to apply for “special permission from the state” to ship them out the country.
• Some analysts suggest that this move is a retaliation against the US and its allies for restricting chip exports to China, which could affect China’s capacity for high-performance computing in areas such as defense.

Why are Germanium and Gallium important?
• Germanium and gallium are essential for making semiconductor chips, which are vital for everything from smartphones and self-driving cars to advanced computing and weapons manufacturing. They have specific properties that are hard to replicate and lend themselves to certain niche applications.
• China is the world’s leading producer of both germanium and gallium. As per the Critical Raw Minerals Alliance, China is responsible for production of 60 per cent of the world’s germanium and 80 per cent of the world’s gallium.
• The export curbs could have significant implications for the global supply chain of these critical elements and affect a range of western tech manufacturers that use them to make their product.

What is Gallium?
• Gallium is a silvery-white metal that melts at a very low temperature of about 30 °C (86 °F), just above room temperature. It can remain liquid at temperatures as low as 0 °C (32 °F) and has a very long liquid range of about 2000 °C (3600 °F).
• Gallium is not found as a free element in nature, but as a by-product of extracting other metals such as zinc, iron, bauxite, and germanium.
• Gallium is used in various applications such as semiconductor chips, solar panels, LEDs, microwave devices, sensors, and electric vehicles.
• It has some unique properties that make it suitable for certain niche applications that silicon cannot perform well. It is also resistant to cosmic radiation and useful for space technologies.

What is Germanium?
• Germanium is a silvery-gray metalloid, intermediate in properties between the metals and the nonmetals. It has a diamond-like crystalline structure and is similar to silicon in its chemical behavior.
• Germanium is not found as a free element in nature, but in various minerals such as argyrodite, germanite, renierite, and canfieldite. It is mainly obtained as a by-product of zinc refining.
• Germanium is used as a semiconductor in various applications such as transistors, solar cells, LEDs, infrared detectors, and fiber-optic communication systems.

What will be the impact on India?
• Gallium and germanium, both are listed on India's recently released critical mineral list by the Ministry of Mines.
• According to Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, China’s export curb on gallium and germanium will not impact India’s semiconductor strategy, as India is not dependent on China for these raw materials. He said that India has alternative sources of supply and is also developing its own capabilities to produce these elements.
Source – Economic Times, Moneycontrol