Value chain · CLM-1316
In plain terms
The world makes about 900 tonnes of raw gallium a year, almost all of it in China, and could make about 1,700 tonnes. Gallium is one ingredient of the high-efficiency solar cells some space designs assume.
The claim as recorded
The USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries of February 2026 put world primary low-purity gallium production at about 900,000 kg (estimated) in 2025 and 848,000 kg in 2024, against a 2025 production capacity of about 1,700,000 kg, and state that "China accounted for 99% of worldwide primary low-purity gallium production"; gallium arsenide is listed among the materials of solar cells.
Evidence behind this: T1: the US Geological Survey's annual commodity summary, a government statistical publication.
Scope and limits
Low-purity primary metal, not the high-purity metal or GaAs wafers a solar cell uses; 2025 values are USGS estimates from a trade source (Asian Metal, per the table's footnotes). No figure here is a demand for SBSP: that needs a T0 calculation of material per GW (OI-090's second step), and a T2 source for a modern III-V cell's gallium content per m2, neither held.
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
PDF p.2, render, "World Low-Purity Production and Production Capacity": China 839,000 (2024) and 900,000 (2025e), Japan 3,000 and 3,000, Russia 6,000 and 6,000, world total (rounded) 848,000 and 900,000; capacity 2025 China 1,600,000, Japan 10,000, Russia 10,000, other e100,000, world e1,700,000. PDF p.1: the 99% sentence as quoted, and GaAs used in "solar cells" among optoelectronic devices.
Basis: kg of gallium content; low-purity primary production; 2025 values estimated
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-020 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1316
CLM-1316, Energy Aperture, as of 2026-02.