China's export control measures for gallium and germanium have been officially implemented since August 1, and the Western market has been boiling. They are all concerned about the negative impact that the "supply cutoff" of gallium and germanium will have on their semiconductor industry.
Needless to say, as soon as this thing is out of stock, the first thing is **. According to Reuters, the Rotterdam warehouse in Europe, the ** of gallium ingots has risen from $258 per kilogram at the end of June to $370 per kilogram, an increase of more than 40%;Germanium ingots also rose by 9 in a month1%, * reached $1473 per kilogram.
It seems that our policy is still very flexible, you are ostensibly against the United States, but in fact, the business is done, a lot of chips are exported, and there must be raw materials. If you really dare to play really, then the purchase price of raw materials will increase more than tenfold, think for yourself.
Compared with the chip executives of the United States who flew to China one after another to stabilize the cooperative relationship, it is the United States that is more worried about China's export control measures. US Department of Defense spokesman Jeff Jurgensen has already said in a statement that the Pentagon has reserves of germanium, but not gallium. Without gallium, no phased array radar, missile gyroscope, night vision device, or military chip can be mass-produced. Oops, it seems to sanction an air.
Japan and South Korea are the most sensitive to export controls on strategic minerals, which have little natural resources and cannot support the production of energy-intensive basic industrial raw materials, and can only rely on processing with supplied materials, precision processing and exports to maintain the development of the national economy. Therefore, it makes sense for people to live well, after all, they rely on this hand to feed.
Let's take a look at Japan's reaction to this matter. As soon as China's export control measures were implemented, the Japan Economic News published a report, saying that Japan is the world's largest consumer of gallium, of which 40% of the first depends on imports from China. China's export control measures may affect Japanese chip manufacturing material manufacturers.
Xiao Ri said quite implicitly, after all, the measures of both sides have just begun, and it is better to endure it than to expose your hole cards in a hurry. Our other neighbor wasn't so calm. "Korea Economy" reported that China's export control of gallium and germanium will shake the foundation of South Korea's semiconductors.
Why would South Korea, which has always prided itself as the number one power in the universe, soften to this point?Because the chip industry accounts for as much as 40% of South Korea's GDP, if there is a big problem in the chip industry, South Korea's economy will face an avalanche-like crisis.
Unfortunately, gallium, which we are export-controlled, is a necessary material for future semiconductor R&D and OLED displays, while germanium is used in the production of critical gases for the semiconductor industry. These two key raw materials, South Korea is highly dependent on the Chinese market. Claims to actively expand imports of gallium and germanium**, and efforts to find alternative channels from Australia and other countries are self-comforting nonsense.
The Koreans themselves are well aware that our country has a monopoly on the market share of these two metals in the global market. Among them, the ** of gallium is as high as 94%, and the ** of germanium accounts for 83%, without the support of huge basic industry and energy industry, it is difficult to industrialize these strategic minerals. At the same time, China has also imposed restrictions on gallium nitride, gallium arsenide, germanium epitaxial growth substrates, germanium tetrachloride and other semiconductor materials containing gallium and germanium elements.
South Korea's semiconductor industry has been hit hard since participating in U.S. chip sanctions. According to data recently released by the Ministry of South Korea, South Korea's exports in July were 503300 million US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 165%, the 10th consecutive month of decline, the largest decline in three years, far exceeding the 6% decline in the previous month, but also exceeding market expectations of 145%。
Among them, chip demand deteriorated further, and South Korea's semiconductor exports fell by 34% year-on-year, more serious than the 28% decline in the previous month. The troubled semiconductor industry in South Korea is directly related to the political interference of the United States.
A number of South Korean semiconductor companies, including Samsung and Hynix, are under increasing direct pressure from the United States. China is not only the largest export market for South Korea's semiconductor industry, but also the largest production base. These external political disturbances eventually translated into a decline in South Korea's export performance to China.
China has been South Korea's largest partner for many years, and it is also South Korea's main export market. South Korea also earns a large ** surplus in our country. Today, this traditional pattern has been reversed. Last year, South Korea's exports to China amounted to 1558$100 million, up from $1,629 the year before$100 million decreased by 44%。Since October 2022, South Korea has had a rare continuous deficit with China**, and the scale continues to expand.
South Korea's nominal GDP fell out of the top 10 in the world last year, behind Italy, Brazil and Australia, ranking 13th.