Semiconductor Manufacturing
The industry that fabricates integrated circuits and chips; gallium is a key input for high-performance gallium nitride and gallium arsenide semiconductors used in power electronics, RF devices and EVs.
Covered in 8 MetalsCost.com News Intelligence articles, most recently on October 5, 2026.
Overview
Semiconductor manufacturing fabricates the integrated circuits and discrete chips that run essentially every electronic system, through wafer growth, lithography, doping, etching and packaging carried out in cleanrooms with extraordinary precision. Global chip sales reached $791.7 billion in 2025, up over 25% year-on-year, driven largely by AI accelerator and data-center demand.
Metals It Depends On
Gallium is the standout critical input for the compound-semiconductor corner of the industry: refined into gallium arsenide and gallium nitride, it enables chips that handle higher frequencies, power density and heat than silicon alone — about 79% of refined gallium goes into these two compounds. Supply is heavily concentrated in China, which accounts for roughly 98% of world primary gallium output.
Sources
- Global semiconductor sales reached $791.7 billion in 2025 — Global Annual Semiconductor Sales Increase 25.6% to $791.7 Billion in 2025 (2025)
- China's ~98% share of world primary gallium output — Critical Minerals: Global Gallium Supply & Demand (2025)
Coverage
METLEN Signs a Second Gallium Supply Deal, With a Major Japanese Chemical Company
Chip supply chains gain a future non-Chinese gallium source.
Volta Hits 283 g/t Gallium Oxide at Its Springer Rare Earth Deposit in Ontario
Chipmakers gain no new gallium supply until a mine is built.
Spark Energy Hits Project-Record Gallium Grade at Boa Vista, Brazil
Spark Energy Minerals has returned a project-record gallium grade at its Boa Vista target in Brazil's Lithium Valley, expanding the gallium-rare earth footprint of its Arapaima project. Surface sampling also defined a new, roughly two-kilometre anomalous zone alongside the company's first discovery at Cruzeta.
Atlantico Finds Gallium in Every Sample as It Maps 12 Rare Earth Targets in Brazil
Any future non-China gallium supply would benefit chipmakers currently dependent on Chinese-refined gallium for compounds like gallium arsenide and gallium nitride.
US Energy Department Backs $10 Million to Pull Gallium and Rare Earths From Waste Streams
Gallium is a key input for gallium nitride and gallium arsenide semiconductors; new domestic recovery pathways could reduce US chipmakers' exposure to foreign gallium supply disruptions.
First Solar's Tellurium Solar Panels Sit Outside New US Tariffs Arriving December 4
Cadmium telluride production depends on a tellurium supply chain increasingly subject to Chinese export licensing, a supply-side risk layered under an otherwise favorable US demand picture.
Porsche Builds Its First Gallium Nitride Chip for Car Audio, Targets 2027 Production
A mainstream automaker validating GaN in a production application builds the case for chipmakers to expand GaN production lines beyond chargers and telecom equipment.
Rio Tinto's Utah Copper Mine Builds a 30-Megawatt Solar Plant From Its Own Waste Tellurium
5N Plus's processing of copper-refining byproduct tellurium into cadmium telluride adds a specialty-materials link that depends on continued byproduct supply.
