China just played a trump card in the chip war. Are more export curbs coming?

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A trade war between China and the United States over the future of semiconductors is escalating.

Beijing hit back Monday by playing a trump card: It imposed export controls on two strategic raw materials, gallium and germanium, that are critical to the global chipmaking industry.

“We see this as China’s second, and much bigger, counter measure to the tech war, and likely a response to the potential US tightening of [its] AI chip ban,” said Jefferies analysts. Sanctioning one of America’s biggest memory chipmakers, Micron Technology (MU), in May was the first, they said.

 

 

Here’s what you need to know about gallium and germanium, how they could play into the chip war and whether more countermeasures could be coming.

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