As we all know, as an "industrial vitamin", rare earth is an important strategic metal resource. Without it, many high-tech products can't play. There is a strategic metal resource, which is also widely used in the high-tech field and is also the key material for chip manufacturing. Like rare earth, this resource is the dominant mineral in China, with the largest reserves and output in the world. So, what kind of strategic metal resources? This is the metal gallium introduced to you next.
Metal gallium, the key material for chip manufacturing! China has the largest reserves in the world, and Europe and the United States also need to import a large amount
Gallium is a silver white rare metal with a low melting point. It is a rare metal in nature that is liquid at room temperature. Because its content in the earth's crust is rare and its distribution is relatively scattered, there is no independent deposit. It is mainly associated with minerals such as aluminum, zinc and germanium, which is difficult to extract. You know, the global output of crude gallium in 2020 is only 300 tons, of which China's output is as high as 290 tons, accounting for more than 96% of the global output, and other crude gallium producing countries are less than a fraction of China.
Not only the output, China's metal gallium reserves are also the first in the world. According to the data released by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the global reserves of metal gallium are about 279300 tons, while China has the largest reserves, reaching 190000 tons, accounting for about 68% of the global reserves; In contrast, the reserves of the United States are less than 1 / 40 of that of China, only 4500 tons. It can be seen that, like rare earth, metal gallium is also a trump card in China's hands.
So, what is the use of this metal resource? First, it is the key material for chip manufacturing. When it comes to semiconductor materials, you may think of silicon carbide, but you may not know gallium nitride. They are the key materials of the third generation of semiconductors. Compared with silicon materials, gallium nitride has better band gap width, electron saturation migration velocity and breakdown field strength. These advantages make it more advantageous in the manufacture of RF devices and power electronic devices.
Metal gallium, the key material for chip manufacturing! China has the largest reserves in the world, and Europe and the United States also need to import a large amount
For example, 5g technology, which has attracted much attention in recent years, uses high-frequency radio wave pulse chipsets made of gallium nitride. This material consumes less power and generates less heat. It can also work at a high temperature of 800 degrees Celsius. Compared with silicon carbide, the cost is also relatively low.
In fact, in addition to being "reused" in the semiconductor field, metal gallium and a series of its compounds have been widely used in many fields such as new energy vehicles, LED lighting, solar cells and radar. Many of its uses are related to the current green energy and low-carbon economy.
In recent years, energy conservation and emission reduction have attracted increasing attention from countries around the world. The Paris Agreement is also committed to promoting countries to formulate and implement emission reduction tasks. It can be expected that the global consumption demand for gallium will be greater and greater in the future, and this resource will be more "promising" in the future.
Metal gallium, the key material for chip manufacturing! China has the largest reserves in the world, and Europe and the United States also need to import a large amount
Aware of its importance and its small reserves, countries such as Europe, America and Japan have long controlled and reserved gallium resources. For example, gallium is one of the 14 mineral raw material shortage lists released by the European Union in 2010; The United States also included gallium in the list of 35 key minerals in 2018.
However, Japan is the largest gallium consumption market in the world, followed by the United States, and the European Union is also an important gallium consumption market. If their own gallium resources are not developed, they need to rely on imports, and a large part of gallium is imported from China.
Metal gallium, the key material for chip manufacturing! China has the largest reserves in the world, and Europe and the United States also need to import a large amount
In fact, it was just mentioned that China's crude gallium production has accounted for more than 96% of the world. Some analysts pointed out that it may also be due to China's large production and even overcapacity, which has restrained the production of other countries. In the past few years, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Germany, Ukraine and other countries have successively stopped the production of primary gallium, so we can see that the global crude gallium production capacity is almost monopolized by China.
Of course, not 100% of gallium resources used by developed countries such as Europe, America and Japan are imported from China. With the continuous development of gallium recycling technology, the global output of regenerated gallium is not low now. The output will reach 250 tons in 2020, and it also shows a gradual upward trend. In the future, it will even exceed the output of crude gallium.
Therefore, some of the gallium supply in developed countries such as Europe and the United States comes from these regenerated gallium, especially Japan, which has the best development of recycling industry. Half of the gallium supply comes from its own recycling industry, gradually getting rid of its dependence on China.
In recent years, China's new energy automobile, photovoltaic, LED lighting and other industries have developed rapidly, which has also driven the rapid growth of gallium and its compounds. However, the imperfection is that the development of China's semiconductor and other industries still lags behind developed countries such as the United States, Japan and South Korea. Therefore, China's high-end refined gallium products (high-end electronic components) are still highly dependent on imports, This can be seen from the fact that the chip has become the largest imported commodity in China.
Metal gallium, the key material for chip manufacturing! China has the largest reserves in the world, and Europe and the United States also need to import a large amount
It is worth noting that in recent years, in order to solve the problems such as chip "neck", China has begun to vigorously develop the chip industry and put forward the goal of raising the chip self-sufficiency rate to 70% by 2025. It can be seen that the rise of domestic cores will accelerate next, and China's foreign dependence on high-precision gallium products will gradually decrease in the future.
In addition, as an advantageous mineral in China, like European and American countries, China has long controlled gallium resources. For example, in 2011, China listed gallium as a strategic reserve metal and planned to collect and store it at an appropriate time. With the increasing importance of gallium resources, it is believed that China will protect such strategic resources.