Rabah Arezki & Grégoire Rota-Graziosi in Nature:
For the most strategically important materials — heavy rare-earth elements, gallium, germanium, silicon, lithium and graphite — the supply chain choke point is no longer at the mine, or even at the refinery. It is in the intellectual property that governs how the raw material is transformed into something useful1.
The raw mineral and the patent for processing it are often owned by different parties, frequently in different jurisdictions and increasingly in nations with trade relations that have moved from competitive to adversarial.
For example, a handful of Chinese, Japanese, South Korean and US firms hold patents for key processes: magnetic separation for rare-earth oxides; processing of graphite for battery anodes; nickel manganese cobalt and lithium iron phosphate cathode chemistries; processes for growing gallium nitride crystals for electronics; and purifying semiconductor-grade silicon.
The result of such a concentrated structure of patent holding is a market failure that geographical diversification cannot fix.
More here.
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