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What are gallium and germanium, and why is China restricting their exports?

China is restricting exports of two niche metals that are key to manufacture electronics and semiconductors, as the tech battle with the U.S. and Europe heats up.

Germanium and gallium are the two metals in the spotlight.

But what and how crucial are they?

Why is China slapping export curbs on the metals?

China and the U.S. have been locked in a technology trade war that has been escalating since 2019. The U.S. has used trade blacklists and sweeping export restrictions to cut China off from key technology components and semiconductors or chips.

These critical pieces of tech have become a focal point in the battle between the two superpowers.

China has not retaliated much so far, but in May labelled U.S. chip firm Micron a “major security risk.” Now, Beijing is looking to areas it has some strength in — the metals and materials that go into electronics and semiconductors.

China’s commerce ministry on Monday said that new regulations will require exporters of gallium and germanium to get a license to ship the metals. Beijing brought in the new rules on national security grounds.

What are germanium and gallium?

Germanium and gallium are metals that are not found naturally. They are instead formed, usually as a by-product of the refineries of other metals.

Germanium, a silvery-white metal, is formed as by-product of zinc production. Fellow soft, silvery metal Gallium, meanwhile, is a by-product of processing bauxite and zinc ores.

What are germanium and gallium used for?

Germanium has several uses, including in solar products and fiber optics. The metal is transparent to infrared radiation and can be employed in military applications, such as night-vision goggles.

The solar panels that contain germanium have applications in space.

Gallium is used for manufacturing the gallium arsenide chemical compound, which can make radio frequency chips for mobile phones and satellite communication, for example. That compound is also a key material in semiconductors.

Which country produces the metals?

China produces 60% of the world’s germanium and 80% of gallium, according to the Critical Raw Materials Alliance, an industry body.

Gallium arsenide is complex to produce, and only a few companies in the world can do so. One is located in Europe, while the others are in Japan and China, the CRM Alliance says.

How big of a deal are China’s curbs?

“A warning shot, not a death blow,” Eurasia Group said in a note on Monday.

“But these latest measures are more limited in scope, and while the new rules require Chinese exporters to first obtain a license, no language automatically bars export to specific countries or end-users.”

The U.S. and Europe don’t import huge amounts of these materials. The U.S. received $5 million of gallium metal and $220 million of gallium arsenide in 2022, according to government figures.

Germanium intake was higher, with the country taking $60 million of the metal, while the EU imported $130 million of Germanium in 2022, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Other countries are also able to produce these metals. Belgium, Canada, Germany, Japan, and Ukraine can manufacture germanium. Japan, South Korea, Ukraine, Russia and Germany meanwhile produce gallium.

There are also potential substitutes for these metals.

China’s scale allowed it to produce them at a lower cost than elsewhere, but Eurasia Group notes that Beijing’s moves will have a “limited impact on global supply given the targeted scope.”

“It is a shot across the bow intended to remind countries including the United States, Japan, and the Netherlands that China has retaliatory options and to thereby deter them from imposing further restrictions on Chinese access to high-end chips and tools,” Eurasia Group said.

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Anduril to take over Microsoft’s U.S. Army $22-billion headset program

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Anduril to take over Microsoft's U.S. Army -billion headset program

Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus and Anduril Industries, speaks during The Wall Street Journal’s WSJ Tech Live conference in Laguna Beach, California on October 16, 2023.

Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images

Anduril Industries, Palmer Luckey’s defense-tech startup, will take over Microsoft‘s multibillion-dollar augmented reality headset program with the U.S. Army, the companies announced Tuesday.

The partnership still needs approval from the Department of Defense. If that goes through, Anduril would oversee “production, future development of hardware and software, and delivery timelines” for the U.S. Army’s Integrated Visual Augmentation System program, the companies said. 

The IVAS program is intended to improve capabilities such as night vision for U.S. Army soldiers. Microsoft won a 10-year contract worth nearly $22 billion to build more than 120,000 custom HoloLens headsets for the Army back in 2021, but the company discontinued production of the device last year, according to reports. As part of the new agreement, Microsoft will continue to provide cloud and artificial intelligence capabilities for IVAS. 

The hand off of the program comes at a key time for Anduril. 

The startup has been in talks to raise up to $2.5 billion in funding at a $28 billion valuation, CNBC reported last week. Anduril also unveiled a partnership with OpenAI in December, and in January, the startup announced plans to invest roughly $1 billion into a manufacturing facility in Ohio.

Since its founding in 2017, Anduril has been working to shake up the defense contractor space currently dominated by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Anduril has been a member of the CNBC Disruptor 50 list three times and ranked as No. 2 last year.

Luckey founded Anduril after his ousting from Facebook. He joined the social media company after co-founding Oculus VR, a virtual-reality startup that he sold to Facebook for $2 billion in 2014. 

He was also one of the tech industry’s earliest vocal supporters of President Donald Trump. Luckey told CNBC in 2017 that he’s been on the “tech-for-Trump train for longer than just about anyone” and that the “need to be the strongest military in the world is really non-partisan.”

Luckey called Anduril’s IVAS partnership “deeply personal” and said everything in his career “has led to this moment.”

“IVAS isn’t just another product,” he wrote in a blog post. “It is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redefine how technology supports those who serve.”

— CNBC’s Ari Levy and Morgan Brennan contributed reporting

WATCH: Anduril reportedly in talks to raise new funding round that could double valuation

Anduril reportedly in talks to raise new funding round that could double valuation

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Shopify takes down Ye website selling swastika shirts after Super Bowl ad

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Shopify takes down Ye website selling swastika shirts after Super Bowl ad

Rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, performs onstage during a “Vultures 1” concert in Inglewood, California on March 14, 2024.

Scott Dudelson | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

Shopify has taken down a site advertised by rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, that sold swastika t-shirts.

The rapper ran an advertisement on Sunday during the Super Bowl that directed viewers to visit Yeezy.com, where it promoted a single product — a $20 t-shirt with a black swastika. The site was online until Tuesday morning.

A Shopify spokesperson said the Canadian e-commerce company took the site down for violating its terms of service. The storefront has been replaced with an error message that reads, “This store is unavailable.”

Shopify President Harley Finkelstein told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” Tuesday that the website’s owners “had an entire day” to prove they weren’t violating the company’s policies, “which did not happen.”

“The moment we realized this was not actually a real commerce practice, they weren’t actually engaging in authentic commerce, we pulled it down,” Finkelstein said.

Read more CNBC tech news

Finkelstein called the site, which previously sold a broader selection of t-shirts, pants and jackets, “disappointing.”

“I’m a proud Jewish entrepreneur,” Finkelstein told CNBC’s Sara Eisen. “I’m a proud Jewish community member. You and I have talked about this in the past, that it’s a big part of my identity. So obviously I’m devastated by that.”

In the days leading up to the Super Bowl, Ye had shared posts praising Adolf Hitler and calling himself a Nazi on the social media site X, which is owned by Elon Musk. On Monday, his account on X was deactivated. His profile now reads: “This account doesn’t exist.”

The brief Super Bowl ad showed Ye reclining in a dentist’s chair. “I spent, like, all the money for the commercial on these new teeth,” he said. Ye then tells viewers to “go to yeezy.com.”

The Anti-Defamation League condemned the commercial on Monday, writing in a post on X that “there’s no excuse for this kind of behavior.”

Ye has previously been rebuked for making antisemitic comments, losing partnerships in 2022 with Gap and Adidas.

In 2022, Ye was suspended from X after he posted an image of a swastika merged with the Star of David, a prominent symbol of Judaism. Months later, his account was reinstated, a decision the company reportedly made after it received reassurances from Ye that he wouldn’t use the platform to share antisemitic content, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Musk, who acquired X, then known as Twitter, in 2022, has been embroiled in controversy over his own social media posts and activity. Musk has frequently amplified antisemitic posts on X, causing some advertisers to flee the site.

In December, Musk endorsed the far-right Alternative for Germany party. And last month, Musk attracted backlash after he repeatedly used a gesture at a rally for Trump that was viewed by many historians and politicians as a Nazi salute. Musk later made jokes about it using the names of historical Nazi party figures.

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Shopify beats on fourth-quarter revenue, but gives mixed guidance

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Shopify beats on fourth-quarter revenue, but gives mixed guidance

An employee works at Shopify’s headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario in Canada.

Chris Wattie | Reuters

Shopify on Tuesday reported better-than-expected sales for the fourth quarter but missed on earnings. Shares whipsawed in premarket trading.

Here’s how the company did:

  • Earnings: 39 cents per share vs. 43 cents per share expected by LSEG
  • Revenue: $2.81 billion vs. $2.73 billion expected by LSEG

Shopify forecasted revenue in the first quarter to grow at a mid-20% percentage rate, which is roughly in line with analysts’ expectations of 24.4% revenue growth, according to LSEG.

“We expect the strong merchant momentum from Q4 to carry over into Q1, recognizing that Q1 is consistently our lowest [gross merchandise volume] quarter seasonally,” the company said in its earnings release.

Read more CNBC tech news

The first quarter includes the results of the holiday shopping season. Online spending jumped nearly 9% to $241.1 billion in November and December, according to data from Adobe Analytics, which tracks sales on retailers’ websites. That was slightly higher than analysts’ forecast for sales of $240.8 billion.

The company said it expects operating expense as a percentage of revenue to be 41% to 42% in the current quarter. That’s a step up from 31.5% in the fourth quarter.

Net income nearly doubled to $1.3 billion, or 99 cents per share, from $657 million, or 51 cents per share, a year ago.

Revenue in the fourth quarter jumped 31% from $2.14 billion in the same quarter a year earlier.

Gross merchandise volume, or the total volume of merchandise sold on the platform, came in at $94.5 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were looking for GMV of $93 billion.

Shopify sells software for merchants who run online businesses as well as services such as advertising and payment processing tools. The company has made its name as a platform for small businesses and direct-to-consumer brands to launch online storefronts. More recently, it has looked to attract bigger customers, such as Reebok, Mattel and Barnes & Noble, as a way to boost its growth.

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