The Covid pandemic was a stark reminder as to just how fragile the global supply chain is, and now we have a new one to worry over. Two weeks after China applied an export restriction to the US on any metals critical to the semiconductor industry, prices for the likes of gallium have shot up in price—to the point where it's now more expensive than it has ever been in the last 23 years.
News of gallium's price hike was reported by Mining, although it's worth noting that the soft, silvery metal has been considerably more expensive in the further past than the $595/kg the report highlighted. Bloomberg (via Tom's Hardware) notes that China accounts for 94% and 83% of all the gallium and germanium global supply, and while not all that directly goes to the US, it does mean the country's export restriction will have some kind of an impact on the supply chain.
