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Deep & Emerging Tech·November 5, 2026·1 min read

UK found to be ‘dangerously’ reliant on China for critical minerals needed for defence and AI

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A UK parliamentary finding of ‘dangerous’ reliance on China for critical minerals makes resource security a board-level issue for anyone building defence, renewables, or AI hardware in the country. Map your dependency chain past Tier 1 suppliers into raw materials and expect policy-driven incentives—and constraints—around domestic mining, recycling, and diversification.

Deep & Emerging Tech

Sources: China's export curbs on critical metals have disrupted supplies of micro drill bits made mainly from tungsten carbide, used in PCBs and chip substrates

Tungsten-based micro drill bits are a tiny component with outsized leverage—China’s export curbs squeezing PCB and substrate tooling is a reminder that AI supply chains can be choked far upstream of GPUs. Map your exposure not just to chips but to the specialty tools and materials behind your boards, and diversify or buffer inventory where you find single-country risk.

Deep & Emerging Tech

Sources and company memo: Chinese NAND flash maker YMTC has put its Shanghai IPO on hold as China tightens share sale approvals; YMTC sought to raise ~$4.9B

YMTC pausing a ~$4.9B IPO under tighter domestic approvals shows how policy risk now directly shapes the capital available for strategic semis. If your roadmap depends on Chinese memory supply, assume capex and capacity expansions may lag prior expectations and price in more volatility on both cost and availability.