China has started scrutinizing more carefully its exports of indium, an element that is key to making high-speed chips for AI data centers, raising concerns that export curbs could follow as Beijing has done with other critical minerals.
Indium, a silvery-white metal named for its indigo blue line in the atomic spectrum, is not on any of China’s export control lists.
But several buyers and customers have flagged to Reuters that they have recently faced increased checks and scrutiny by the Chinese Customs over their purchases of the metal. Chinese authorities in some cases demanded additional information about which the end-customer is and where they are based, according to some of the buyers.
The increased scrutiny is not uniform for all buyers of China’s indium as representatives of other companies have told Reuters they haven’t seen any tightened control, although they have heard of such practices regarding other buyers.
China produces about 70% of all the indium in the world. The metal is widely used in liquid crystal displays (LCD), but its most important application nowadays is that it is key to making indium phosphide, the crucial component for high-speed high-performance AI chips.
Unlike the metal indium, indium phosphide has been on China’s export control list since February 2025.
Over the past year and a half China has leveraged its dominant market position in critical minerals and rare earth elements (REEs) to curb exports or tighten export controls of key minerals and metals that are crucial for magnet manufacturing and the defense, automotive, and clean energy industries.
Concerns about a potential Chinese squeeze on indium supply amid the boom in the AI industry come in the week in which the G7 leaders formed a critical minerals alliance, pledging to boost critical mineral production and cooperation to counter China’s dominance in the sector.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com