< br />
MOSCOW, July 4 Restrictions on the export of gallium and germanium by China will lead to an increase in the cost of semiconductors that are made from them in the world, but such measures are unlikely for Russia whether they are affected — there are own production facilities, Leonid Khazanov, an independent expert in the field of industry and energy, shared his opinion.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced that from August 1, 2023, export control measures for gallium and germanium, which are also used in the manufacture of chips, will come into effect. Later on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said that these actions are in line with international practice and are not directed against any specific countries.
«If China now stops exports, the cost of semiconductors based on gallium and germanium will rise sharply, and no other country except China can replace it, because the main production volumes of these metals are concentrated in China. They (semiconductors — ed.) For example, I admit that abroad there will be shutdowns of enterprises that produce semiconductors based on germanium and gallium, since they will not have raw materials — this is possible, «Khazanov said.
According to him, from the actions of China, first of all, «it will be bad» for foreign semiconductor manufacturers — in particular, the Taiwanese company TSMC. Russia has its own production facilities for the production of both elements. So, germanium is obtained from coal, its production is carried out by the Krasnoyarsk enterprise «Germanium» and LLC «Germanium and Applications» in the Tula region. Gallium is produced at the Pikalevsky Alumina Refinery (part of OK Rusal).
Those types of products that are not produced in Russia are imported into Russia, Khazanov added. This applies to especially pure germanium — it is necessary for the production of spectrometers, certain types of infrared technology, and so on. «Therefore, the Shvabe holding, which is part of the Rostec state corporation, announced last year that it was going to create such a production. And, perhaps, China will now push to accelerate this process,» the expert noted.