China vetoes the sale of its technology to process rare earths, key in chips

China announced the suspension of exports of technologies necessary for the processing of rare earths, materials that control more than 80% of global production and are key to the manufacture of chips, electric vehicles or military equipment.

The Ministry of Commerce of the Asian country published this Thursday an update to the list of technologies whose export is prohibited or restricted, which now includes, under the first category, “technologies for the extraction and separation of rare earths.”

Likewise, in the part of restricted exports, other technologies for mining, processing and smelting of these materials appear, as well as those for modifying and adding rare earths to metallic materials or the formulas and synthesis processes of extracting agents to obtain them.

The new rules do not affect rare earths themselves, although Beijing had already announced in November that it would require exporters of these materials to report each sale abroad, becoming the only product subject to this requirement when exported. . abroad. China provides the EU with 98% of its rare earths, creating a situation of strong dependence regarding these materials.

In recent years there has been speculation about the possibility that China, the world’s largest producer of rare earths, will use these materials as a pressure tool within the framework of the trade and technological war it maintains with the United States, a country that is trying to increase the s supplies it obtains domestically and from allies such as Australia.

New critical matters law

Furthermore, this same month the European Parliament approved a law to boost the supply of strategic raw materials – among them, rare earths – and that, by 2030, the European Union (EU) will be able to extract 10% of its own territory. . of those they consume per year, process 40% of their demand and recycle 25%.

Precisely, Bloomberg points out that, until recently, there were practically no rare earth refineries outside China, and that these new prohibitions and restrictions could be precisely aimed at hindering attempts to develop that industry outside of the Attic giant.

Rare earth elements are a set of 17 essential elements in the manufacture of batteries, magnets for electric vehicles, turbines for windmills or mobile phones, as well as for the aeronautical and defense industries.

Beijing also recently announced restrictions on the export of gallium and germanium – key metals for the manufacture of semiconductors – or graphite, arguing in both cases that it made these decisions for reasons of “national security.”