Silicon
The substrate of the digital age. Metallurgical silicon is refined into polysilicon and grown into the wafers every chip is built on — and it is this site's namesake.
Every GPU, CPU and memory die starts as an ultra-pure silicon wafer; silicon photonics is moving optics onto the chip itself.
China produces ~87% of silicon metal, though high-purity polysilicon for chips has more diversified supply.
Where it's produced
Share of 2025 world silicon metal production (thousand metric tons). Source: USGS MCS 2026.
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.
Silicon: key questions
- Where is silicon mined or produced?
- According to USGS 2025 data, the largest producers are China (87%), Brazil (3.9%) and Norway (2.8%) of world silicon metal production.
- Is silicon a critical mineral?
- Silicon appears on 9 of the 10 official lists we track (United States, United States (DOE), European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, Canada).
- Is silicon in short supply?
- Our supply status: Watch. China produces ~87% of silicon metal, though high-purity polysilicon for chips has more diversified supply.
- Why does silicon matter for AI infrastructure?
- Every GPU, CPU and memory die starts as an ultra-pure silicon wafer; silicon photonics is moving optics onto the chip itself.
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.