Boron
Mined as borates (Turkey dominates) for glass, ceramics and NdFeB magnets; ultra-pure boron is a key p-type dopant in silicon.
Boron dopes silicon in every chip; borosilicate glass and boron in NdFeB magnets used in cooling fans and drives.
Where it's produced
Share of 2025 world production (mixed forms reported by country — not directly comparable) (thousand metric tons). Source: USGS MCS 2026.
Withheld by USGS to avoid disclosing company data: United States.
Who calls it critical
Membership on each government list. “Strategic” marks a higher tier where the list has one; “group” means included as part of a group such as rare earths or PGMs.
Boron: key questions
- Where is boron mined or produced?
- Country-level production data for Boron is limited or withheld in USGS statistics.
- Is boron a critical mineral?
- Boron appears on 4 of the 10 official lists we track (United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Japan).
- Is boron in short supply?
- Our supply status: Watch. null
- Why does boron matter for AI infrastructure?
- Boron dopes silicon in every chip; borosilicate glass and boron in NdFeB magnets used in cooling fans and drives.
Related minerals
ExplorerGallium
TightA by-product of aluminum refining that becomes gallium nitride (GaN) and gallium arsenide (GaAs) — the materials of power electronics, RF chips and lasers.
Indium
TightA soft by-product metal used in touchscreens (ITO) and in indium phosphide — the compound semiconductor behind many high-speed optical lasers.
Germanium
TightA semiconductor metal recovered from zinc and coal ash, essential for fiber-optic cores, infrared optics and high-speed SiGe chips.