On the evening of July 3rd, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs issued a notice on the implementation of export controls on gallium and germanium related items. The announcement states that in order to maintain national security and interests, with the approval of the State Council, it has been decided to implement export controls on gallium and germanium related items, which will be officially implemented from August 1, 2023.

        Gallium and germanium are important semiconductor materials. As the world's largest producer of gallium and the world's largest producer of germanium, China's export control will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the global Semiconductor industry.

        The announcement states that items that meet relevant characteristics shall not be exported without permission. It involves metal gallium, gallium nitride, Gallium(III) oxide, Gallium phosphide, gallium arsenide, indium gallium arsenic, Gallium(III) selenide, Gallium antimonide, as well as metal germanium, zone melting germanium ingot, zinc phosphate germanium, germanium epitaxial growth substrate, Germanium dioxide, Germanium tetrachloride and other related items.

        Gallium, germanium and their related compounds are important semiconductor raw materials. As one of the countries with the largest reserves and output of metal gallium and germanium in the world, China's implementation of export controls on gallium and germanium related items will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the global Semiconductor industry.

        Gallium is currently one of the most scarce metal elements in the world. According to statistics, the total production of gallium in the world in 2020 was 300 tons, with Chinese products reaching 290 tons, accounting for 96% of global production; In terms of reserves, the world's reserves of gallium metal are only 279300 tons, while China's reserves amount to 190000 tons, accounting for over 68% of the world's reserves.

        Germanium is also an important semiconductor material, although it is not widely used, it still becomes a scarce resource due to its scarce content. It has extensive and important applications in semiconductor, aerospace measurement and control, nuclear physics detection, Fiber-optic communication, infrared optics, solar cells, chemical catalysts, biomedicine and other fields.

        It is worth mentioning that Japan and the United States are respectively the top two metal gallium consumption markets in the world, and the consumption of the European Union is also high. Due to the scarcity of this resource, these countries have protected their domestic gallium metal and instead imported it from reserve countries like China.

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