# Gallium

A by-product of alumina refining that makes gallium arsenide and gallium nitride chips for radar, telecoms and LEDs; China makes 99%.

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/

Tech & minor metals · No. 38

- EU strategic
- EU critical 2023
- US critical 2025
- India critical 2023
- HHI 9,739 · highly concentrated
 Tech & minor metals · Foundation · Matter

Bauxite holds about 50 parts per million gallium, and China extracts 99% of the world's primary metal from it.

Chart: Illustration: Gallium

##### Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Gallium has no ore. It is pulled from the caustic liquor of alumina refineries, since bauxite carries about 50 ppm, with a little more from zinc residues.

##### Three things to know

1. Gallium arsenide and gallium nitride integrated circuits took 73% of US gallium use in 2025, because they outpace silicon in RF and power chips.
2. The metal melts just above room temperature, and its value climbs steeply with purity, from 4N primary metal to 6N-7N crystal grade.
3. World output more than tripled from 304 t in 2020 to 987 t in 2024, after earlier closures in Germany, Hungary and Kazakhstan.

##### The journey

1. 1 **Bauxite**About 50 ppm gallium
2. 2 **Bayer liquor**Caustic stream at alumina refineries
3. 3 **Extraction**Gallium recovered from the liquor
4. 4 **Primary metal**Low-purity 4N metal, mostly Chinese
5. 5 **Refining**Upgraded to 6N-7N for crystal growth
6. 6 **Chips**GaAs and GaN wafers and devices
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##### Go deeper pick a tab to open it in full

## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gallium/links/index.md)