China's Indium Export Scrutiny Threatens AI Data Centers

China is intensifying its examination of indium exports, a specialized metal essential for next-generation data centers and AI infrastructure, fueling fears among global buyers that it could be formally added to Beijing's expanding export control framework . Indium — used in indium phosphide (InP) wafers critical for high-speed photonic components in AI data centers — was already placed under export restrictions starting in February 2025 . The latest move (June 2026) involves heightened customs scrutiny and licensing delays rather than an outright ban, but it signals that indium may be next in line for full controls .

Why Global Buyers Are Concerned

AI data center disruption. Indium phosphide is a key material for energy-efficient photonic chips that data center operators need to keep pace with AI computing demands. Export restrictions on InP that began in February 2025 have already become a "significant obstacle" in designing the fastest and most energy-efficient AI components .

Licensing bottlenecks. Instead of outright bans, China can "slow down or impose conditions" on exports, creating chronic supply uncertainty . US business groups report that access to some critical minerals from China is already "nearly unobtainable" due to licensing delays .

Escalation risk. Buyers worry that tightened inspection today is a precursor to formal inclusion of indium in the export control list, following the pattern seen with rare earths, gallium, and germanium .

How the US Has Responded

The US government has moved on several fronts to secure its indium and critical mineral supply:

• Expanded critical minerals list: In November 2025, the US Department of the Interior released a final 2025 List of Critical Minerals with 60 minerals — including indium — signaling the government's recognition of supply risk .
• Presidential action on processed minerals: In January 2026, the White House issued an executive order to "Adjust Imports of Processed Critical Minerals and Their Derivative Products," explicitly naming indium as a mineral used in fiber optic networks and satellite systems that faces supply chain vulnerabilities .
• Critical Minerals Ministerial (Feb. 2026): The US State Department convened a major ministerial, signing 11 new bilateral critical minerals frameworks and MOUs with partner countries to "reshape the global market" and build diversified, secure supply chains .
• Alliance-building: The US launched a US-India Critical Minerals Security Taskforce and a joint industry platform to reduce dependence on Chinese-dominated supply networks .
• Domestic production push: Efforts include streamlined permitting, tax incentives, and support for domestic mining and processing projects, though analysts at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and Carnegie Endowment note that building alternative supply chains will require years of sustained investment .

The Broader Geopolitical Strategy

Indium is the latest front in a multi-year campaign by Beijing to weaponize its dominance in critical mineral supply chains. The pattern follows a clear escalation:

1. First wave (2023–2024): China restricted exports of gallium, germanium, graphite, and antimony — primarily in response to US semiconductor technology restrictions .
2. Second wave (April 2025): Export controls expanded to include tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, molybdenum, and indium, imposed as a retaliatory tool in the broader trade and tariff war with the United States . This was followed by controls on heavy rare earths (dysprosium, yttrium) and permanent magnets .
3. October 2025 expansion: China further tightened rare earth controls, requiring government approval for exports of dual-use items containing even trace amounts of Chinese-origin rare earths . The second wave was later suspended until November 2026 after US-China negotiations, but the control infrastructure remains in place .
4. New regulatory framework (May 2026): China enacted sweeping 79-article regulations to coordinate mining, processing, utilization, and stockpiling of critical minerals, putting resource security at the center of state policy amid intensifying geopolitical competition .

Beijing defends these measures as "standardizing and improving" export management, but analysts at the European Parliament, CSIS, and ETH Zürich characterize them as a deliberate strategy to use mineral supply dominance as leverage in trade negotiations, retaliation against US tariffs, and a tool to control downstream technology industries . China's Foreign Ministry recently urged G7 nations to "respect market economy principles," even as Beijing itself tightens state control over the entire mineral supply chain .