China has near global monopolies on these exports, accounting for 98% of global gallium production, 93% of germanium production, and 49% of antimony production.
China has near global monopolies on these exports, accounting for 98% of global gallium production, 93% of germanium production, and 49% of antimony production.
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I think that answers the question. The US has been perfectly fine exploiting other countries to get it for that amount of time and thus has no reason to do anything else
Ironically this isn’t the first time it’s had this problem. Japan stopped giving it to them around WW2.
It’s also a component for stable and reliable fuses.
But yeah, I agree. You’d think there would be other options. There probably are. But in America’s hubris they most likely presumed they could just bully anyone into being suppliers for these materials.