No wonder they are desperate! In 2010, the United States said it would take 15 years to get rid of its reliance on Chinese rare earths, but who could have imagined that by 2025, the US's breakthrough was still 0.
We really overestimated the United States!
In 2010, President Obama of the United States said that it would take 15 years to get rid of its reliance on Chinese rare earths. However, no one could have expected that after spending a full 15 years, the United States still had a breakthrough of 0 in the field of rare earths.
Moreover, what made the United States even more desperate is that in 2010, the US imported 90% of its rare earths from China. By 2025, this figure had increased to 97% dependence on imports, and the only rare earth mine in the US is still owned by Chinese capital.
Additionally, in the medium and heavy rare earths that are crucial for high-tech industries and high-end military equipment, the US still cannot achieve large-scale purification and separation of 3N-grade rare earths.
China, on the other hand, was able to achieve the purification of 3N-grade rare earths in the 1980s through the theory of cascade extraction proposed by Academician Xu Guangxian. Today, China has even established large-scale production lines for 6N-grade pure medium and heavy rare earths.
According to the pace of the US, it seems that the US is lagging behind China by 50 years. Moreover, considering this pace, even if the US spends another 15 years, it may not necessarily achieve any breakthrough.
It should be noted that to stably obtain a rare earth, it is necessary to establish a vast industrial system that can process all its by-products. As a vivid analogy: the US just wants to eat the "duck tongue," but to get the duck tongue, it must raise an entire duck and digest all parts such as duck meat and duck feathers. This requires a huge market and a complete industrial chain to support it.
Furthermore, there is another issue: is the US willing to stop its high-tech industries and high-end military R&D to break through rare earth technology? It is known that after 15 years, it is uncertain whether the US will have any breakthrough in rare earth technology, but China's sixth-generation aircraft will definitely be in service.
Moreover, for China, it doesn't need to impose long-arm jurisdiction for too long. Just delaying the US by one or two years will reveal the gap between China and the US. The simplest example is AI chips. According to Huawei's Ascend process route, China can return to the top of the world in 2027. If China blocks the rare earths needed for NVIDIA's AI chips, what do you think the result will be? Now, NVIDIA has already been zero in the Chinese market!
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1846309274744071/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.