LONDON : China's looming gallium export controls leave automakers with a dilemma over whether they can continue to rely on a metal which had been seen as a game changer for electric vehicles.
Gallium is found in trace amounts in zinc ores and in bauxite, and gallium metal is produced when processing bauxite to make aluminium. Around 80 per cent is produced in China, according to the European industry association Critical Raw Materials Alliance . Transphorm uses ultra thin layers of gallium nitride that are a micron, or one thousandth of a millimetre thick, on its semiconductors.
But some mineral experts say China's decision last week to impose export controls on gallium, along with another semiconductor material germanium, starting next month could force automakers to think again. "If you are already banking on gallium nitride and designing it into your platform, then you're in trouble," he said.