From August, China is to restrict exports of gallium and germanium, two critical elements for making semiconductor chips. With China dominating the supply of both elements, exporters will now need special licences to get them out of the country. The move has the potential to harm a range of western tech manufacturers that use these elements to make their products.
The move is reportedly in response to western restrictions of equipment vital for making semiconductor devices (and was forewarned in an previous article in The Conversation). Above all, the US CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 curtailed exports of high-end microchips and technology to China, potentially affecting Beijing’s capacity for high-performance computing in areas such as defence. Other nations such as Japan and the Netherlands have also imposed restrictions.
So how important are the new Chinese restrictions and what are the implications likely to be?
