Material Insights · Understanding the Material World

Gallium and Telecommunications

Radio equipment for mobile networks relies on gallium compounds, gallium nitride in base station amplifiers and gallium arsenide in handsets, while China produces about 99% of the world's primary gallium and has used export controls on it since 2023.

Gallium (commodity) and Telecommunications (industry): 3 relationships.

How they are linked

1. Radio power amplifiers

Physical flow · Strong · Gallium to telecommunications equipment

Gallium nitride transistors amplify radio signals efficiently and over wide bandwidths above 3 GHz, which suits 5G base station radios; the site rates gallium 5 of 5 on criticality for radio, core and transport equipment vendors.

  • about $1.3 billion RF gallium nitride device market, 2022
  • nearly 45% telecom infrastructure's projected share of that market by 2028, Yole forecast
  • 73% share of US gallium consumption in integrated circuits, 2025

Yole expected RF gallium nitride sales to grow about 12% a year from 2022 to nearly $3 billion by 2028, with telecom infrastructure the largest use. USGS lists telecommunications equipment among the main uses of gallium integrated circuits, alongside defence and high-performance computing.

Enterprise types that depend on it:

  • Radio, core and transport equipment vendors: gallium nitride power amplifiers (criticality 5 of 5)

Sources: Material Insights; everything RF (Yole data); USGS

2. Chinese export controls

Shared risk · Strong · China's gallium controls reach telecom equipment supply chains

China produces almost all of the world's primary gallium, so its licensing of gallium exports leaves chip and equipment makers elsewhere with little alternative supply in the short run.

  • 99% China's share of world primary low-purity gallium production, 2025
  • about $580 per kg average unit value of US gallium metal imports, 2025, about 30% above 2024

China required export licences for gallium from August 2023, banned exports to the United States in December 2024, and in November 2025 suspended that ban until 27 November 2026. The unit value of US gallium imports rose about 30% in 2025. The suspension is time-limited, so Chinese licence policy remains the main supply risk for gallium nitride and gallium arsenide wafer makers.

Sources: USGS; Fastmarkets

3. Silicon alternatives

Substitution · Weak · Silicon and silicon-germanium can replace gallium arsenide in some radio chips

Silicon CMOS power amplifiers compete with gallium arsenide in some handsets and silicon-germanium is replacing it in some transistors, but gallium nitride's efficiency above 3 GHz keeps gallium compounds in high-frequency radio.

Gallium arsenide is a core building block of sub-6 GHz power amplifiers in handsets and still held the largest share of the compound RF market in 2021, though Yole expected it to lose some telecom share to gallium nitride and silicon-germanium. USGS notes that in many defence uses no effective substitutes exist for gallium arsenide and gallium nitride, so substitution trims rather than removes the dependence.

Sources: everything RF (Yole data); USGS; everything RF (Yole data)

For investors

Key learnings

  1. Telecom's gallium need is hard to replace in the short run, so the main risk is a licence decision in China, which made about 99% of primary gallium in 2025.
  2. Growth in 5G massive MIMO radios favours gallium nitride device makers, with telecom infrastructure expected to take nearly 45% of the RF gallium nitride market by 2028.
  3. China's suspension of its US gallium export ban runs only to 27 November 2026, so supply terms for wafer makers outside China could tighten again at short notice.

What to track

  • China MOFCOM gallium export licence notices and monthly gallium exports: Tighter licensing or falling exports signal shortages for wafer makers outside China (Monthly · China customs (GACC), MOFCOM)
  • Gallium prices in and outside China: A widening premium outside China shows buyers paying for supply security (Weekly · Fastmarkets, SMM)
  • Base station radio shipments and 5G capex: Higher network spending raises gallium nitride device demand (Quarterly · operator and vendor results)

For policymakers

Key learnings

  1. Gallium can be recovered from the Bayer liquor of alumina refineries, so countries with alumina refineries, India included, have a route to some domestic supply if they build recovery units.
  2. Gallium chips serve defence systems as well as telecom networks, so gallium supply is a security question as well as an industrial one.
  3. Short-term relief from Chinese suspensions does not change the structural concentration of about 99% of primary output.

What to track

  • Progress on gallium recovery at Indian alumina refineries: A working plant would cut India's full import dependence (As announced · NALCO, Ministry of Mines)
  • Status of China's gallium export controls: Reinstatement of bans or new licence rules widens supply risk (As announced · MOFCOM)
  • India's imports of gallium and gallium compound wafers by source: Shows how exposed domestic telecom equipment makers are to China (Monthly · Commerce ministry TradeStat)

India

India produces no primary gallium; NALCO has worked on recovery from the Bayer liquor of its alumina refinery since a 2016 agreement with BARC, and about 20 tonnes a year is considered feasible, but as of February 2026 the plan had not gone beyond a reported pilot plant.

Sources

  1. Telecommunications: materials, Material Insights (2026)
  2. RF GaN market set to reach US$3 billion by 2028, led by SEDI, Qorvo, Wolfspeed and NXP, everything RF (Yole data) (2023)
  3. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Gallium, USGS (2026)
  4. GaAs expected to lose market share to GaN and SiGe in the telecom and infrastructure market, everything RF (Yole data) (2021)
  5. Nalco's gallium plan remains on paper: a missed opportunity as critical minerals race heats up, AL Circle (2026)
  6. China suspends export prohibition on gallium, germanium, antimony, superhard materials to US, Fastmarkets (2025)