China's Gallium & Germanium Export Controls

[@kamikaz1k]

1:00 Germanium 3:54 Germanium Demand 6:08 Germanium Shortage? 7:25 Gallium 9:02 Gallium Supply 10:28 Gallium Integrated Circuits 11:57 Optoelectronics 13:25 Conclusion

[@jurian0101]

8:34 ma man has a track record calling caustic soda an acid. Weird lol.

[@Gameboygenius]

@@jurian0101 by track record you mean that he did the same mistake in 2-3 videos which were researched during the same weekend.

[@jurian0101]

I mean isn't the Patreon fellas supposed to find that out early, so he would have time to redact the script or something?

[@Gameboygenius]

@@jurian0101 I suspect these videos weren't released early to patrons because of the urgent topic.

[@Emphasis213]

In other words thoese two minerals are by oroducts of other refinement processes. This means a country needs to manufacure a lot of things to make those two minerals economically viable.

[@jefferyzhang1851]

This is the main issue. It's completely uneconomic to produce gallium on its own. You need to refine a ton of aluminum to produce a kg of gallium. The amount of electrical power, ore transportation infrastructure you would need to build is massive. If the end product is 5-10x more expensive than Chinese gallium, the entire downstream industry become uneconomic.

[@dang3304]

Do the producers of the primary minerals always produce gallium and germanium as side products? Given the low prices of these minerals I could imagine a lot of it remains in the waste stream and thus could become new sources if prices rise.

[@chenganye9106]

Those two in China grow with coal, it is more costly for the US to refine those from silver

[@msimon6808]

@@jefferyzhang1851 Except some things can't be done any other way.

[@msimon6808]

@@dr5290 The Kiev investment is taking the long view. Warsaw. Otherwise it is, as you point out, of marginal utility.

[@josephli3561]

How in the world did you get this out so fast

[@Asianometry]

Long night

[@JonahTsai]

@@Asianometry Similar to what I told my dentist when she asked me how the Taiwanese are so good at making chips... "24/7" was my answer.

[@JonahTsai]

Not that I could put in many words on the dentist's chair.

[@alainpannetier2543]

@@JonahTsai 24/7 and 7/11 😉

[@SeaJay_Oceans]

Well, USA has a lot of coal fly ash piles and pits... perhaps their is money to be made in reprocessing coal power plants output to harvest Germanium and other elements ?

[@champan250]

China rarely does anything unannounced. The gallium and germanium export ban has been talked about for years as a retaliation against Huawei ban, given the strong application on telco equipment

[@josephyoung6749]

The US/Europe makes, and traditionally has made, a lot of money from protectionism, so naturally our Chinese counterpart is taking the hint... a truly shocking development.

[@yudogcome5901]

Not only Huawei, the United States has sanctioned 350 Chinese companies, and has joined forces with Japan, the Netherlands, and South Korea to restrict exports to China of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and materials. Biden is crazy

[@brodriguez11000]

​@@josephyoung6749Every country in the world has used protectionism as part of economic policy.

[@microdesigns2000]

During the pandemic shutdown, the price of krypton gas went from unreasonably high to outrageously high. This happened because it is a byproduct of steel making, where the real goal is to get oxygen. When the steel plants shut down in China, krypton went ballistic. Krypton would be a great subject for a video.

[@seventian6117]

Gallium is primary from byproduct of Aluminum, which in itself cost 3% of total electricity of the world to produce. China produce 57% of world's Aluminum, but most Gallium rich Aluminium ore are in China. On top of that, the refining process take years in itself.

[@tonymac1349]

I agree maybe not the rarest but possibly ‘more’ sought after/ difficult to acquire.

[@lowesteastside]

Wrong. The chinese import almost all minerals to process. The chinese only have monopoly in processing, not the metals themselves. Australia can produce this stuff in matter of weeks. Doesn’t take much to produce any by products.

[@miraphycs7377]

chinese process the most aluminum. They do not have aluminum themselves

[@araara4746]

@@lowesteastside You can refute all you like to entertain yourself. Others argue based on data.

[@derdefr]

@@araara4746 is the data reliably given by the ccp?

[@drwho9437]

Germanium is used to strain silicon in many CMOS processes.

[@zhenle777]

Yeah, including for GAA, SiGe is important for epitaxially building up the nanosheets as the sacrificial layers.

[@fjs1111]

Yes to my knowledge, heavily used in RF CMOS component processes

[@rydplrs71]

Straining silicon is an additional benefit beyond its intrinsic properties.

[@rydplrs71]

@@fjs1111high speed switching…….

[@spankeyfish]

3:15 the pic explains why decommissioned tanks are a significant source of germanium: it's used to make the lenses for thermal optics as it's transparent to thermal IR whereas silica glass isn't.

[@atmel9077]

It is also usee in infrared motion detector sensors

[@PawanKumar-nx1eu]

GaN is used in really advanced radars, specifically AESA radars, thus bigger impact on high tech deffence

[@bvf8611]

Aren't germanium transistors still needed for extremely high frequency devices? Like RADARs? Or any military grade high bandwidth communication?

[@98900945r]

Silicon transistors are faster and much more thermally stable than germanium transistors

[@8BitNaptime]

You may be thinking of GaAs, or GaN, or maybe SiGe for ICs.

[@ntabile]

but it’s good for Silicon on insulator technology chips for optos.

[@bvf8611]

@@98900945r actually i found an IEEE pub from 2016, that it can be introduced in CMOS processes, and its 3x..4x higher N and P mobilites can make chips even much faster, and its lower opening voltages power consumption smaller, so knowing how much time has passed, it may be/have been on the brink of introduction

[@fjs1111]

They sure are! RF CMOS

[@Pedro1997RJ]

Amazing video as usual, but there's a mistake at 8:30. The Bayer process uses a solution of NaOH, which is a BASE. In my hydrometallurgy classes, while learning about the extraction of Al from bauxite, the teacher mentioned that Gallium is a common impurity in the process however, in Brazil, it is generally discarded in the red mud (the waste product of the Bayer process) or incorporated as an impurity in metallic aluminum. I asked why it isn't recovered from the solution, and the answer was basically that it is neither economically nor strategically viable. Let's see if this trade war between China and the US activates interest in the recovery of this element here. Greetings from an almost materials and metallurgical engineer. Amazing channel, always bringing a video to wrap up my Sundays.

[@unreliablenarrator6649]

This is the second recent video where he has made the mistake of calling NaOH and Acid. Obviously not a chemist.

[@unreliablenarrator6649]

Brazil is a BRICS country. The winner of red mud is likely to be China.

[@captainwin6333]

@@unreliablenarrator6649 He's just an expert Googler passingf himself off as the go to source on everything.

[@glint6070]

@@captainwin6333 Unnecessary.

[@AnneliedeWet]

​@@captainwin6333thats why its so terribly verbose.

[@benmcreynolds8581]

Gallium is such a facinating mineral. The surface tension gallium has is like watching magic, when you set up different tests and comparisons to waters surface tension. The action lab did a really good video covering it.

[@cruzergo]

For every sanction, there's a countersanction.

[@domm6812]

Export bans alone shouldn't make prices jump to ridiculous levels in a rational world, but don't underestimate the power of panic and knee jerk reactions. We can never be sure what will happen until it happens, but I hope you're right.

[@atmel9077]

Never underestimate the power of panic

[@davidwong5197]

There is no ban on REM but price went up 300%

[@juhantoon6524]

Now is restriction, next total ban. Its no more the question of price. You just cant get them even you are willing to pay through your nose.

[@maximme]

toilet paper shortage is a RECENT phenomena

[@JohSebBac]

How can they put a ban on an object? It is not a product that sanctioned by any individual or government. This restriction is really invalid and not to mention they have to send these raw materials abroad to be refined. So how exactly can they ban it? Not to mention these resources are only produce in China not only because they have advanced technology but because it is very harmful to the environment to mine. And that's the biggest problem with first world country.

[@karhukivi]

The Bolivian Government has indicated that they would "do with lithium what the OPEC nations did with oil" i.e. limit supplies to make the price rise and maximise their income from supplying it, which is a perfectly good reason for any country to restrict exports, as well as protecting their own industry. They can make more money from the added value of downstream products compared to just selling the raw material. Same reason some farms supply cheese and yoghurts instead of just milk.

[@johnmilton1737]

You're missing that germanium is used in all high resolution gamma spectroscopy detectors. Critical for running nuclear power plants and also for military applications.

[@Alphapigeon8881]

Some minor corrections, 7:31 "[Gallium] it is the only metal that takes a liquid form at room temperature", room temperature is defined as a range usually between 20-25 °C. Gallium has a melting point of 30 °C and mercury has a melting point of -39 °C, so even though it's close the only elemental metal that is liquid at room temperature is mercury.

[@codingsingh4156]

Where we live room temp is 25-35

[@thearmyofiron]

must be nice to have room temp of that without AC

[@robertadsett5273]

“Germanium is no longer used in semiconductors” Germanium is a semiconductor.

[@nirvana3921]

Germanium is not fatal. Because North America is rich in Germanium mines. However, if the mining chain is built, it will take a while and a lot of capital investment. The absence of Gallium is fatal. Because 85% of the Gallium in the world market comes from China. 10% from Russia. 4% comes from Ukraine, but the Ukrainian Gallium mine is in Donetsk and Luhansk.

[@Veptis]

I am a thermal camera enthusiast, so I have some giant Germanium lenses laying in my room. the lenses are even export controlled due to their focal length (and when paired with a modern sensor - it's too high of an angular resolution to cross borders without issues). So the front element is like 2.8kg because it's a 150mm f/1 lens, so the element has that diameter. Germanium has the highest refractive index, so you don't need as many elements as optical glass for lenses. Plus the pixels are larger and the band is wider. Germanium lenses are monocrystaline. So they are grown into these massive ingots, just like silicon is. But instead of cutting thin wafers, you cut thick slabs which are you optical raw. They then get machined down to the lens shape, polished and coated.

[@palashchoudhury5565]

In Electronics, Graphene has least Resistance Add 1% Graphene in evry Micro Processor 2 reduce Resistance of Silicon Chip * 2-98% Graphene can b used in PV Cell, LED & Sound where Switching isnt Required

[@rydplrs71]

Gallium arsenide and silicon germanium are currently key within the high voltage high frequency niches. Silicon carbide is preferable overall but the options are much easier to deal with when using standard semiconductor production equipment.

[@ukeemail]

Yeah the Gallium Nitride is a well known one from all the new compact chargers. I wonder how many of these are manufactured into complete chips in China, and thus still available in volume for the same price - or are the majority of GaN MOSFETs and switching ICs get manufactured in Japan or USA and assembled in China. For some of these applications I can see Silicon Carbide taking some of the load for things like electric vehicles, inverters and maybe some compact chargers. Maybe not a perfect substitute for the most lightweight low voltage charger, but could be a better alternative for higher-voltage EV platforms and more suitable for 800V + EV architectures and shift the industry to more of those sooner than we would've otherwise. Interesting as some have stated the Aluminium ores in China may have more gallium than those elsewhere. In Australia most ore is direct exported to China - so the gallium will go with it if there is any there. This could lead to some follow-on tit-for-tat trade wars with other countries limiting the amount of Aluminium bought from China (to force more local production and hence make the Gallium production viable in USA/Europe/other asia). Would aircraft aluminium be one of the main markets here? I could foresee China causing some financial headaches for their Gallium producers. Also, to my understanding a lot of the coal fly ash is sitting in waste dams here in Australia. It would be wonderful if these could be mined to clean up and produce some useful Gallium/Germanium

[@dyf123cxe]

@@ukeemail Owning raw materials but lacking a production line for refining is also a constraint. Under the cost advantage, it may not be economical to rebuild a raw material production line (or when it costs a lot of money and human resources to rebuild the production line you control, people can lift the restrictions, low price dumping, your expensive production line cannot recover the construction cost). In a sense, China has also gone through a similar process. It has enough ore raw materials (it can also import raw materials from other countries); by undertaking the technology and production capacity transferred from other countries’ de-industrialization, or exploring related technologies by itself ; Maximize production benefits under iterative optimization and form cost advantages. If you want to challenge this position, you can only fight without considering the cost, and you cannot rely on the capital market to solve it.

[@godfreypoon5148]

We should ask Germany. I bet they have a lot of Germanium.

[@thelastofthehitachi972]

and ask the french for gallium named after Gallia, latin for France - and homeland of the discoverer

[@rs-dp6pr]

LOL

[@JackTheMurderer]

Unfortunately we can't give away our germanium as this is the sole source of our germaness.

[@TheGreatAtario]

4:15 Er. Germanium is transparent to infrared. Not the other way around.

[@WolfmanDude]

Germanium is no longer used in semicondutors? I bought new transistors they called "silicon-germanium transistors" only a few months ago for a RF project. That material seems to dominate the market for really high frequency (ft>50GHz) bipolar transistors. Look for the "BFP620" for example

[@radojkosamja]

Yes, you are right, I just check Mouser and Si are going up to 45GHz but SiGe up to 110GHz

[@tissuepaper9962]

Gell-Mann Amnesia. You can see all the mistakes in this report because you're an expert on the topic, but there are just as many mistakes even when you aren't able to identify them because the news is outside your area of expertise. Remember this.

[@Gameboygenius]

@@tissuepaper9962 there is no error in this case, though. He literally mentioned the example that KingofKatenfutter mentioned, using SiGe alloys for RF transistors. Go back and listen for yourself, timestamp 5:55. He then stated germanium is not used *over all.* Which is true. The point of this particular video is not to discuss every possible application of germanium, but to discuss the overall industry trends for germanium.

[@tissuepaper9962]

@@Gameboygenius and I personally think he's wrong about the "overall trends" too. Germanium and gallium are going to play a key role in the next generation of high-speed electronics. Niche technology becomes household technology in a matter of a decade or less.

[@pizzablender]

The SiGe compound is gron on Si wafers. It is a very thin layer. I suppose not much germanium would be used here.

[@PaulJurczak]

@4:20 "infrared rays are transparent to the element" - it is the other way around: germanium is transparent to infrared light.

[@ntal5859]

You said germanium is not used in semiconductors but you forget strained silicon where it used with silicon.

[@Ferraday]

True, but not at much scale

[@Gameboygenius]

Did he? Because what I heard him say was that it's no longer used *on the whole* while showing an example of a niche use case of germanium in semiconductors. At 5:55.

[@alainpannetier2543]

5:20 - PET - Catalysts are not part of reaction end products. So, consumption would be marginal.

[@gralha_]

Just because they're not part of reaction doesn't mean that it is not spent or lost in the process as a whole

[@tissuepaper9962]

"unconsumed" and "recoverable" are very different things my guy. It doesn't matter if the catalyst doesn't get consumed in the reaction, if you have to go through intensive waste processing to make it usable again.

[@litewavve]

Remember Martin Shkreli? He was the guy that raised the price of a off-patent drug (Daraprim) 50 folds. How was he able to do that? Because the drug had no substution but very limited market size. No other drug makers were willing to invest in the very limited market with high initial investments. Even if some makers decide to get into the manufacturing of this drug, it will still be years to get FDA approval and by then, Martin Shkreli can change the price again to make the investments unworthy. I don't know if the same game theory in that case also applies here.

[@__Andrew_]

7:30 Mercury melts at room temperature, Gallium i believe a few degrees higher. or am i missing something?

[@girraiffe]

Yes

[@Gameboygenius]

No, mercury doesn't melt at room temperature. Mercury's melting point is about -40 degrees, close to the point where the celsius and fahrenheit scales cross, coincidentally. But skip back a couple of seconds from your timestamp. He starts by mentioning the other 3 metals that can be liquid at room temperature, mercury, cesium and rubidium. I misheard that sentence as being independent at first as well.

[@docteurlowbat]

Well today it's 30°C in my room. So Gallium is liquid in my room. 😁

[@SJ23982398]

"can cause ridicule by peers" They should include that in those "don't microwave your baby" warnings, a lot less dead babies.

[@cashmerecat9269]

The findings from 731???

[@Danji_Coppersmoke]

Given that symptom, why did he say that it is not fatal.. 🤣

[@ebx100]

I heard long ago that some lady actually put her poodle in a microwave oven, after it was out in the rain. I wonder if the poodle actually dried or went pop first.

[@araara4746]

Some people like to display their stupidity just because they like stupid narratives, they believe the lies of the western media.

[@katrinabryce]

@@ebx100 When I put food in the microwave, it generally doesn't dry out before cooking, so I think a dog would work out the same way as meat intended for human consumption.

[@anfangerm]

I have watched the Chinese press conference about the export control The CCP claims these element are exported and used for military purpose, and it is national security thread to China to continue export these ores. I guess that make sense?

[@MetaView7]

That's only a standard public relations release. They don't care about national security threats. They are traders, not warriors.

[@Ferraday]

obviously the military can always get their hands on these elements, this is an economic restriction.

[@arewealone9969]

@@MetaView7obviously they do care considering they are surrounded by US military bases.

[@ArawnOfAnnwn]

Makes about as much sense as the US' excuses for its own export controls. No one really believes either claim (or if they do, I'd say they're naive). This is a trade war. America restricts stuff from us, we can hit back in turn. Even the video itself says this is more of a warning shot than one that's meant to be actually impactful.

[@bvf8611]

It would make sense in the scope if this were to counter the USA's influence on restricting Chinese 5G technology in the EU and at home. Namely the video also states that that is the major application of optoelectronics. Which optical fiber data transmission seems to be the most significant overlapping in the two materials' use cases.

[@lowesteastside]

The chinese have monopoly on processing, not the metals itself. They import most of the metals and resale the processed metals. GA and GE are by products can be reproduced by Australia, US or any other country in matter of weeks. Rare earth is not rare, it’s the processing that is rare.

[@jeanhuynh8548]

Weeks huh LOL 😂 you fools! Keep dreaming

[@JinKee]

When China lacked minerals during the days of Deng they did bulk import of garbage and sorted it by hand to find valuable e-waste to refine. Would we do the same?

[@Khalistan_Zindabaddd]

Rumors have it that USA will start to mine all sort of minerals on the Moon.

[@DataWaveTaGo]

Exemplary as always. Always a joy to watch & listen to your presentations. Thank you!

[@mathieug6136]

A simple problem with replacing germanium with florine in optical fibers is that florine actually lower the refractive index while germanium increases it to create the waveguide at the center.

[@Fulcanelli88]

florine ? ... i_fvckU in tha floor

[@morgank.1249]

Yaaaaass! Finally something for a Sunday!

[@matneu27]

Intresting as usual 👍 It reminds me also on germanium diodes where you could build one of the simplest radio recivers just with a coil, a headphone and a germanium diode and of course a local Am radio station

[@sagetmaster4]

The cost of setting up mines and refineries was so cheap I'm China that they had many more economically viable areas to mine. Everywhere else in the world has lots of potential supply in every element. It's a matter of them being lower grade or untapped due to economic forces

[@VL-inquisitor]

China has learned everything on export control / technology ban / national security from the USA. Now it is the time for the student to show its prowess. Well done China.

[@MrStevemur]

I was very intrigued that you said recycled germanium comes from decommissioned tanks? Maybe it has military applications that aren’t so publicized then.

[@mattbland2380]

Many military electronics used germanium based transistors and components for decades even after the transition to silicon. I would assume that these are recovered and separated out.

[@pizzablender]

@@mattbland2380 Probably windows for infrared light. For night vision equipment perhaps. I assume that these days there is a camera mounted outside. Hence the windows off to recycling.

[@nobodynoone2500]

Used in NV systems. Usually lenses.

[@johnlockegg7095]

China can ban export so that the prices rise up and money is invested into alternative production lines. Once the alternative production is set up, China will lift the ban to flood the market with their cheaper exports and crush the new productions.

[@joekerr8334]

That's how the Chinese put Molycorp into bankruptcy.

[@土豆撒]

it will take 10 years to set up another production line to replace China. US can wait for 10 years on chip making.

[@francoisguyot9770]

Germanium is used in solar panel blocking diodes for their lower biasing voltage threshold. which is a significant application since we've been transiting toward green energies.

[@Loanshark753]

At least he mentioned the transition to mainly silicon semiconductors many years ago, however germanium used for certain special transistors today. GalliumNitride is also gaining steam for power transistors. SiGe, is used for high frequency transistors.

[@janosnagyj.9540]

8:45 I can't see any Gallium content in the Bayer liquor here...

[@toomuchsugar8958]

I have 40 grams of Gallium in a small bottle on my tv set box. A impulse buy years ago, it is always warm on my cable tv box so it stays liquid.

[@testusersg]

Ga would have been fun, if not for the fact that it wets glass.. unlike Hg.

[@AppliedCryogenics]

I got an oz of gallium as a birthday present from my mother-in-law. I can assure you that it is not rarer than gold.

[@miscbits6399]

A market for thorium would make virtually every rare earth operation on the planet economic and environmentally compliant (thorium is _THE_ reason rare earth mines struggle as more is produced than nearly everything else combined and right now it's an unwanted waste product and being ever so slightly radioactive means it can't be put back in the hole it came from China's work at Wu Wei (expanding on the ORNL MSRE) may make that happen. It would result in them losing their stranglehold over the rare earth market, but the USA essentially banned MSR work in 1972 by decertifying hastalloy N and rewriting rules so that molten fuel systems aren't possible (doing it without explisitcly saying that they banned, for cold war reasons), so having the world's ONLY working Molten Salt nuclear reactor (and fuelling it with 50kg of thorium from the outset, with a few hundred grams of 19% U235 as a kickstart load) gives them a big leg up on all the other entities who've been trying to make it happen (Indonesia is the most likely nest country to have one) MSRs produce 99% less nuclear waste and should be 80% cheaper to both build and operate, due to not needing strupidly overengineered containment vessels/buildings capable of handling overpressure events that you find with steam bombs (water moderated systems). If China is first to market in the 800-1200MW range then they stand to be the 21st century energy superpower - and one thing to bear in mind is that unlike water-moderated systems these are hot enough to both supply industrial process heat AND replace burners in coal power stations - with a complete reactor/heat exchanger/containment building setup being around 1/4 the size of existing burners One of the bitg lessons of major changes in technology is that chagning lots of things at once is a bad idea. Taking a conventional coal power station design and "nuclearising" the heat source is a good first step before moving to more compact/efficient power turbines (supercritical CO2) instead of the 150-year old steam turbine technology at the heart of almost all our electrical generation worldwide (lower maintenance costs, greater robustness, faster load following ability - and MSRs can load follow with ease too. No more peaking plants!) I agree China's making a political statement but the USA has declared economic war on them and they're defending themselves without resorting to physical weapons. The increasing nationalism on botrh sides is dangerous, disturbing and reminisecent of the 1930s

[@nicholasmaude6906]

Long term this will result in alternative sources being found cutting the PRC out of international markets.

[@ScoobieDoo-zy1rh]

Doubtful😂

[@nicholasmaude6906]

It's already happening just look at the US's Chips Act for example.@@ScoobieDoo-zy1rh

[@ScoobieDoo-zy1rh]

@@nicholasmaude69061 year later . Still no reasonable alternative to gallium, germanium and antimony.

[@Jackkalpakian]

I think you are confusing the message with its medium. The problem is not these rare earths and the ability to change suppliers, it is the signal that the PRC will begin embargoes and sanctions too. I would add that if the PRC embargoes textiles, clothes, and consumer goods, which are fundamentally low-tech goods, the resulting disruptions in the US will have political implications. China has already banned the import of US pork, much to the delight of Spanish and Danish producers. You need to take a more holistic picture beyond the tech industry and keep in mind the relationship between politics and economics in the US itself. Finally, keep in mind that mining in the United States is a deeply controversial issue and there is an environmental movement which sues everything in sight.

[@Archaic_Youth]

Your point?

[@someb0dy2]

Problem with embargoes on low tech items such as textiles, clothes, etc - there are probably 50 countries which can ramp up and will be happy to replace China in that. From Vietnam to India to parts of Africa, etc. They will not need advanced skills or infrastructure to work on those things, so it will be something they will be happy to do easily. Similar to how when Covid lockdowns in China created alot of problems with consumer electronics and other low tech stuff. Vietnam benefited from that in a large way.

[@ali_alami]

@@Archaic_Youth yes that's his point indeed 🤭

[@JonahTsai]

You should ask us Taiwanese on what happens when china pick on you, daily, and ban import and export of your low/no tech products by using some laughable excuses like finding COVID virus on plastic package of frozen sea food, or some beetles on pineapples, providing absolutely no evidence whatsoever. Yes, our pineapple and grouper farmers and many other different farmers got hurt badly, but they adopted and move on to other crops. And thanks to the Japanese’s helping hands buying our pineapples and groupers when our farmers needed them! Now that china wants open up imports of those products again, our farmers have already moved on, and many expressed the lack of interests and fear of traps. You know, fool me once…. Second time? F’ you! China can try ban exports of low tech products to the US….. it will only further accelerate the migration of world factory to Vietnam, India, and Mexico, making it 0-china + n!

[@yansakuya1]

I don't know why you think the US is like other Western countries. As the environmental movement is useless currently in the US as the GOP and the conservative courts would just defeat them easily if they tried to stop them. While the governors would happily destroy nature to get these materials produced just to stick to China. So I think it would not take very long to get them produced. While the other stuff can be made in any third world country.

[@100c0c]

Difficult balance between making the restrictions hurt and not giving countries the incentive to diversify their supply. China knows well from their own response to US sanctions that most countries will just adapt.

[@bvf8611]

It was written in some reports, that it is preprocessed germanium and gallium that is being restricted, which would need years to build facilities for. And personally i'd recall the Saudi's strategy of lowering the oil prices when the USA tried to diversify by Alaskan oil i think, and then most of such US companies just went bankrupt.

[@bobmorane4926]

I guess the Chinese can also adapt to the ban on lithography machines and that's exactly what they're working hard at doing and the question becomes who can adapt faster and btw the Chinese can also throw a curve ball at you or even a few of them to make sure the attacks and sanctions go both ways. Let's see how fast you can build those rare earth manufacturing facilities and get through all the environmental hurdles that exist in the West to process rare earth !!!

[@karthur3421]

lol if only it was that simple, when it comes to commerce war, like how older and bigger companies destroy upstarts

[@100c0c]

@@bvf8611 The Saudis lost 2014-2016 war against Shale gas and oil, though. Not all situations are the same and governments come through when threatened.

[@bvf8611]

@@100c0c as far as i know it's been the war on Ukraine and sanctions against Russian gas and oil, because of which the mentioned diversification got back on track, earlier the Saudis won - yet i can't quote any articles right now to underpin this, i just remember 'as if'

[@aregularperson7573]

Ironically enough my dad works at the red dog Zinc mine

[@alex_zetsu]

I knew they had materials not found in useful quantities in Europe or the Americas, but I thought Gallium was one of the things that could be found there.

[@glasslinger]

There is no shortage of gernanium. It is not produced in the USA becasue it has been so cheap from China.

[@nobodynoone2500]

Bingo. Surprised to see you here. Great new collection btw!

[@hello-rq8kf]

"can cause ridicule by your peers" i'm dead 💀

[@jamesocker5235]

Absolutely fantastic content thank you

[@dedsert9653]

the recycling from tanks comes because the thermal optics use germanium lenses, very big lenses.

[@jlinsy]

Do you still maintain a full-time job while doing this? If so, how do you find the time

[@florin604]

You sleep less

[@nobodynoone2500]

Delegation helps.

[@1001Balance]

Thing is that mining is an extremely polluting business which is but one reason why for instance Europe imports them. It does not mean there are no deposits. The recent discovery of the Kiruna belt, but also deep sea mining will be explored in case China shuts the door.

[@1001Balance]

Sure the Chinese products will be cheaper than the American or European ones. But if these markets shut the door for Chinese products or tax them equivalent to Chinese taxes on rare earth metals, nobody wins and global warming will continue to accelerate. Bottomline, only trade can help us all progress.

[@karhukivi]

Mining in third world countries might be polluting, but not in a modern country with strict H&S and environmental controls plus an educated workforce watched over by union bosses who are always ready to defend their workers. The EU is infested with greens, that is the reason "they" try to outsource mining, which makes the EU dependent on other countries like Russia an China, with the negative consequences that can have.

[@jensensean7118]

It's not about CAN but about WHEN, should a total ban of export is put on American users. Takes years to mass produce them by building new factories to do the refining. Equally true for the Chinese to develop lithography machine on their own.

[@warclan5429]

I am sorry to see your disregard for Germanium, Germanium has advantages over silicon. why? it is more stable and therefore used in high quality circuits. I ve worked in electronic design for 30 years. why? their physical chart. designers use this material for a reason. . what you ignore to mention is that Germanium is widely used in sensors , such as Radiometric Sensors(sensitive to ionizing radiation, particularly x rays and gamma rays) This material is important. the issue is nobody asks where such sensors are made. and the answer is Mostly China. the rest you figure it out.

[@lumberjackdreamer6267]

Looking at the picture at 11:48, I bet he’s in Taiwan?

[@Gameboygenius]

Yes, he is.

[@lumberjackdreamer6267]

@@Gameboygenius There’s something so special about Taiwan.

[@obsidianjane4413]

@3:17 "Tanks?" US tanks and other systems using thermal imaginers use Germanium lenses and plates.

[@tengkualiff]

Damn 7am every Monday 😂

[@An_Iron_God69420]

7:33 mercury also takes liquid for at room temperature though

[@Gameboygenius]

That sentence starts at 7:28... It starts close to the previous sentence so I misheard it as well at first.

[@An_Iron_God69420]

@@Gameboygenius but the melting point of gallium is like almost 30 C

[@kevenquinlan]

Hmm. Great Video. So glad I got you in my suggestions. I love inorganic chemistry so anything to do with that is fascinating. I usually read your typical MSN/Yahoo news stuff but have just been so put off by the content I was hoping for something more informative. This is good for that= thanks.

[@flopadoo8991]

Germanium is also a major component in infrared applications

[@00HoODBoy]

youre killing it with these

[@miscbits6399]

There is no way that Belgium mines that much germanium or even processes it. That's got to be sourced elsewhere and it'd be educational to know where

[@effedrien]

It's recycled and mostly coming from byproducts from other mines, that are not in Belgium indeed but it is all part of a multinational. Headquarters and germanium recycling is in Belgium

[@Gunni1972]

Thank you very much. this pretty much explained everything i had questions about.

[@Howard-de1gs]

Thanks. This is a very solid analysis and reasonable hypothesis. Let's wait and find out.

[@bennyhsu5347]

Great video!

[@treeinafield5022]

love this channel!

[@Izquierda]

First of all, eliminate all non-capital export controls everywhere (capital controls suck but they're kind of necessary for stability in some economies). Your conclusion is right that this is more of a symbolic move. To add to that, it's deliberately not a very disruptive control because China is not looking to stir things up at this point, but to generate mild annoyances in retaliation and to signal willingness to retaliate more generally. Ultimately the US started the whole thing. No matter how many national security and geopolitical (supposed) risks someone may want to raise, it makes absolutely no sense to try to nerf an entire country's technological development. There's literally no winning endgame to such a strategy. If the goal is to avoid conflict, then it's a great strategy to accelerate the opposite outcome. But maybe that is what those in charge want.

[@warsshan]

These metals are not rare but extracting them and refining them is much more complicated than gold

[@captainfactoid3867]

Tanks have a lot of infrared systems on them. Germanium is used in a lot of those systems so it makes sense why a lot of Germanium comes from decommissioned tanks

[@TheGreatPizzaMasterpiece]

Nice to see that as an expert presenter you employ the good ole MacOS. Cheers on that.

[@qiangzhu4465]

although people dont konw how difficult to create a full stream germanium industy, they think it may as easy as click a mouse in a rts game :)

[@atmel9077]

About the time it takes to build an EUV machine

[@davidwong5197]

@@atmel9077 Except you can influence company to build it for you. ASML is investing 10 billion euro in China. I wonder what for.

[@FunnyFamily]

Did you move from Taiwan to USA?

[@Numba003]

The sheer scale of interconnectedness in the global economy is staggering when you look at it. Thank you for again teaching me more about the world metals (and metalloids) market lol. God be with you out there everybody. ✝️ :)

[@1.4142]

I like how the entire script is in one caption.

[@SF-fb6lv]

3:16 Germanium from infrared-transparent windows in military tanks...

[@msimon6808]

Does this mean an end to CK722s?

[@msimon6808]

My first transistor was a CK722.

[@marcfruchtman9473]

Great video. Very relevant as well.

[@x2ul725]

great video ! great update !

[@yoksel99]

".. more resistant to radiation, so the stuff is well suited for radio frequency applications..." -- Exceptionally wrong statement. This should be edited out.

[@Ferraday]

haha yes this one is full of flaws. III-IV radiation hardness is mainly useful for space applications.

[@DanJanTube]

Love your analysis

[@CalgarGTX]

Always a new excuse for more expensive gpus 😅

[@SpaceCakeism]

7:32 Mercury is also liquid at room temperature, wtf are you talking about? You literally just mentioned mercury before saying that gallium is the only one that is liquid at room temperature; besides, I wouldn't call nearly 30C room temperature, maybe in the tropics, but not where I live.

[@陈天贵-y7v]

I don't know if other companies will be affected by the ban. but it is sure lmt and raytheon company wil have a lot of trouble because of the lack of these. Let me bring you some information from China on this matter. The bad news is that China accounts for 80% of US imports of gallium. The good news is that germanium imports from China "only" account for 60% of US imports, so it can be imported from other countries; The bad news is that regardless of gallium and germanium, the number two is Russia, which accounts for almost all of the rest; The good news is that Ukraine is the third largest producer in the world, and can fully meet the needs of the US and its Allies through investment , The bad news is that the regions are located in the territories of the Russian Occupation of Zaporov, Donetsk and Luhansk, where there is .... The good news is that countries other than China, Russia and Ukraine also produce them, The bad news is that following 4/5th is Iran and and North Korea, The good news is that America's own reserves are the largest in the world, The bad news is that it would take years to ready, and it wouldn't be economically viable.

[@nowheremanjk8624]

Fajny masz newsletter, co się rzadko zdaża. Pozfrowienia z Polski.

[@stevengill1736]

Had no idea China had cornered the Ge and Ga market too!! Cool that the recycling is so good, but for Ge it sounds like it's mostly military, so not necessarily long term dependable. Gallium is totally cool....any metal that melts in your hand is cool (except NaK, the sodium potassium eutectic of course - that would happily burn in your flesh) I don't think such limits to technology ever work in the long run... IMHO only the Chinese people can change China's politics in the long run....

[@_hotneutron_]

Radar... that's the target of Gallium control.

[@ricardokowalski1579]

Solid content One more thing laid to rest

[@Alex-zc8ds]

Gallium is the Future of Power Electronics Gallium Nitrade is used in most new power transistor designs for huge power and current applications that silicon based can't handle GaN semiconductors are slowly emerging on markets as it has higher breakdown strength, faster switching speed, higher thermal conductivity and lower on-resistance, power devices based on GaN significantly outperform silicon-based devices.

[@birgirkarl]

I need to cut down on my gallium consumption

[@hotcoffee5542]

7:34 you forgot about mercury

[@eliotanderson6554]

Well researched video I couldn't watch early even if saw video becuase of exams ❤

[@ZZFilm]

What do you make of this really weird sight... A company started selling gallium and germanium on Amazon in the USA. It's being marketed as a plaything to kids and families.

[@HanSolo__]

Germanium, Polon, Gallium - I wonder where these were discovered.

[@Gameboygenius]

Polonium would have been discovered in France, actually. The name comes from Marie Curie's country of birth but she was living in Paris at the time.

[@ContraVsGigi]

Finally a good analysis of this ban/restriction.

[@miraphycs7377]

Gallium and germanium are not rare earth metals. They are co-produced with other ore. Germanium is a byproduct of zinc. Gallium is a byproduct of aluminum.