July 4 (Reuters) - China has announced export restrictions on some gallium and germanium products, metals used in computer chips and other products, citing national security interests.
Here’s the thing about resource based export bans: prices will go up and as a result new producers/mines will enter the market. In time, new alternatives will be found, cost of production will go down, and china will loose its comparative advantage permanently.
… you’re supposed to cut access to those shortly before the war, to cause maximum headaches. If there’s a war actually soon, then they picked the dumbest timing they possibly could. The west is in a state of partially mobilized war production, in an effort to supply Ukraine.
And US soldiers are not involved in any foreign wars for the first time in awhile. That lowers our threshold for hitting an America-fuck-yea moment significantly.
Primary Reference: https://youtu.be/LasrD6SZkZk
Haven’t drank any coffee yet. Reading the title I thought this was going to effect the potato chip supply chain.
Mmm. The melt-in-your-mouth flavour of gallium.
(It melts at like 30C if you’re not familiar)
Lay’s BBQ chips. New and improved gallium free recipe.
Germanium ores are rare and most germanium is a by-product of zinc production and from coal fly ash.
Gallium is found in trace amounts in zinc ores and in bauxite, and gallium metal is produced when processing bauxite to make aluminium.
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