Germanium
Optical/SiGe metal also under Chinese export ban
Germanium is used in fiber optics, infrared optics, solar cells, and silicon-germanium (SiGe) devices relevant to high-speed interconnect and optical transceivers in AI datacenters. China controls the majority of refined germanium output and, like gallium, subjected it to export licensing in 2023 and a full ban on exports to the US in December 2024. It is a strategic chokepoint for optical networking and defense-adjacent electronics.
China share
~60-80% of refined germanium
Uses
Fiber/IR optics, SiGe, solar, transceivers
Controls
2023 licensing; Dec 2024 US export ban
How it fits the stack
Germanium with what it depends on (above) and what it feeds (below). The figure renders as a crawlable diagram and upgrades to an interactive 3D graph as it scrolls into view.
Germanium in the AI stack. Germanium with its immediate upstream dependencies (top) and downstream dependents (bottom) in the AI value chain. Hover a node in 3D, or read the full relationships below.
Graph data (text) — 2 entities, 1 relationships
- TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) —supplies→ Germanium