🇯🇵🚨 Japan's dysprosium imports just collapsed 82%, falling to ZERO in four separate months this year. China's rare earth squeeze is now hitting EVs, chip tools, and even AI infrastructure fiber optics. 🧵 📉 The Numbers Are Staggering Two critical rare-earth products fell to just ~20% of their 2024 levels in the first half of 2026, per a Nikkei analysis of Japanese Ministry of Finance trade data . ⚡ Dysprosium: just 13 tons imported Jan-June 2026, down 82% YoY, imports hit ZERO in January, February, May, and June 🔬 Yttrium: 204 tons imported, down 74%, the lowest level on record, even below the 2013 Senkaku-dispute trough of 235 tons 💰 European dysprosium prices have risen sevenfold since China's April 2025 export controls began 🏭 Real Companies, Real Pain This isn't abstract, named Japanese manufacturers are already feeling it: 🔧 Mitsui Kinzoku, opened a rare-earth sales office in China's Liaoning province in April, now says it "could become an option" to close it if yttrium feedstock shortages persist 🧲 Proterial (magnet maker), dysprosium export licenses secured through November 2025, but zero new licenses approved as of July 🥽 AGC (glass/coatings), no disruption yet, but actively evaluating non-Chinese yttrium alternatives Many Japanese firms are now simply drawing down inventories to keep customer deliveries alive. trendforce.com/news/2026/08/… 🌏 The Trade Flow Shift Is the Real Story China's rare earth exports to Japan fell 43.8% YoY as of June, while shipments to the Netherlands surged 121.4% in the same period, fueling speculation Beijing is prioritizing supply to protect semiconductor equipment cooperation with the Dutch . 🛰️ Now Spreading to AI Infrastructure Erbium, a niche rare earth used in fiber-optic cables for AI data infrastructure, has jumped 50% in Europe and 40%+ in China since early June, as traders and end users stockpile ahead of possible tighter Chinese controls when the US-China trade truce expires at year-end . 🌊 Japan's Response Tokyo isn't standing still: PM Takaichi has ordered prep work for a commercial-scale deep-sea rare earth demonstration near Minamitorishima by 2027, and Sojitz is exploring new Southeast Asian mines with Australia's Lynas. Yttrium is now sourced from 12 non-China countries, up from just 3 in 2024, but volumes still aren't enough . ⚠️ The Bottom Line Downstream chip-tool production hasn't broken yet, but every company in this chain is running on fumes from drawn-down inventory, not fresh supply. If China tightens further at year-end, "not yet a bottleneck" could flip fast. 👀 #RareEarths #Dysprosium #Yttrium #China #Japan #CriticalMinerals #Semiconductors #EVs #AIInfrastructure #Erbium #SupplyChain #Proterial #MitsuiKinzoku #Reshoring #Minamitorishima #Lynas #NationalSecurity

⚡🌏 How did China win the rare earths race? Simple, the West quit. This 9-min video is the best simple explainer you'll see. 🧵👇 ☢️ It started with the Manhattan Project 🔹 In the 1940s, separating uranium taught America how to separate rare earths 🔹 The US invented the industry, and led global production for decades 🧪 "Rare" earths aren't rare, separating them is 🔹 Copper: ~7 refining processes. Nickel: ~20 🔹 Separating the full suite of 17 rare earths: THOUSANDS of processes 🔹 Energy-hungry, waste-heavy, and brutally hard to master 🏜️ Mountain Pass: the mine that had it all 🔹 One California mine made the US the world's rare earth superpower 🔹 Then radioactive wastewater leaked from pipes running 14 miles across the desert 🔹 Scandal → shutdown → "why are we even doing this here?" 🐉 China didn't take the industry. The West handed it over 🔹 Refining is dirty — neodymium is more carbon-intensive to produce than steel, copper, nickel or cobalt 🔹 America offshored the mess. China mastered the chemistry 🔹 Four decades later, Beijing controls the choke point 🧲 And it's all about magnets 🔹 NdFeB, the strongest permanent magnets on Earth, no contest 🔹 They're in your AirPods, wind turbines, EV motors, drones 🔹 Drones are the next chapter of warfare. No magnets, no motors ♟️ Now it sits at the top of geopolitics 🔹 When Trump met Xi, rare earths led the agenda 🔹 Tariff threats answered with export controls, that's leverage 🔹 The irony: Mountain Pass is now restarting, chasing the industry America gave away China didn't win the race. The West walked off the track. 👀 🎥 Ed Conway, Sky News: Stuff Matters #RareEarths #CriticalMinerals #Neodymium #NdFeB #Magnets #MountainPass #China #SupplyChain #Mining #EVs #Drones #WindEnergy #Geopolitics #Dysprosium #CleanEnergy