What a wafer is made from.

89 editions across 15 commodities, holding 175 series and 840 restatements. Every figure is a work of the United States Government and is in the public domain.

A cell here is what the edition printed. Where the publisher printed a mark instead of a figure, the mark is shown as the mark, because a withheld number, a zero and a number nobody collected are three different facts and none of them is blank.

A range is not a withdrawal. USGS stopped printing an exact net import reliance and started printing a band. That is a published value in a coarser form, so it appears here as the band and is not counted as a figure the publisher took away.

What antimony is used for. Antimony is used mainly in flame retardants and lead-acid batteries. In semiconductors it is a dopant that adds free electrons to silicon, and part of compound semiconductors such as indium antimonide for infrared detectors.

What this does not tell you: How much of it the chip industry uses. USGS does not report semiconductors as a separate use of antimony, and this record does not estimate a share.

By country, as printed in the 2026 edition. Unit: metric tons. W is withheld, NA not available, a dash is zero. USGS rounds the world total.

A figure in bold is one the edition printed differently from the edition before it. A row appears once per edition that printed it, so a row that starts or stops partway down covers only the editions that carried it. Where the publisher renamed a row, both names are here, each over its own editions. The revisions page joins a renamed row into one series only where this record has declared the rename, and that series says so.

What arsenic is used for. Most arsenic goes into wood preservatives and agricultural chemicals. High-purity arsenic metal is the other half of gallium arsenide and indium gallium arsenide, used in radio-frequency chips, solar cells for space and infrared sensors.

What this does not tell you: How much of it the chip industry uses. USGS does not report semiconductors as a separate use of arsenic, and this record does not estimate a share.

By country, as printed in the 2026 edition. Unit: as printed above the table, arsenic trioxide, gross weight. W is withheld, NA not available, a dash is zero. USGS rounds the world total.

A figure in bold is one the edition printed differently from the edition before it. A row appears once per edition that printed it, so a row that starts or stops partway down covers only the editions that carried it. Where the publisher renamed a row, both names are here, each over its own editions. The revisions page joins a renamed row into one series only where this record has declared the rename, and that series says so.

What copper is used for. Copper goes mostly into buildings, electrical and electronic products and transport. On a chip it forms the wiring between transistors, and it carries current through lead frames, package substrates and circuit boards.

What this does not tell you: How much of it the chip industry uses. USGS does not report semiconductors as a separate use of copper, and this record does not estimate a share.

By country, as printed in the 2026 edition. Unit: thousand metric tons. W is withheld, NA not available, a dash is zero. USGS rounds the world total.

A figure in bold is one the edition printed differently from the edition before it. A row appears once per edition that printed it, so a row that starts or stops partway down covers only the editions that carried it. Where the publisher renamed a row, both names are here, each over its own editions. The revisions page joins a renamed row into one series only where this record has declared the rename, and that series says so.

What fluorspar is used for. Fluorspar is the mineral source of hydrogen fluoride, from which almost every fluorine chemical is made. USGS names the cleaning and etching steps of semiconductor manufacturing among the uses of hydrogen fluoride.

What this does not tell you: How much of it the chip industry uses. USGS does not report semiconductors as a separate use of fluorspar or hydrogen fluoride, and this record does not estimate a share.

By country, as printed in the 2026 edition. Unit: thousand metric tons. W is withheld, NA not available, a dash is zero. USGS rounds the world total.

A figure in bold is one the edition printed differently from the edition before it. A row appears once per edition that printed it, so a row that starts or stops partway down covers only the editions that carried it. Where the publisher renamed a row, both names are here, each over its own editions. The revisions page joins a renamed row into one series only where this record has declared the rename, and that series says so.

What gallium is used for. Gallium goes into gallium arsenide and gallium nitride, compound semiconductors used for radio-frequency chips, power devices, LEDs and laser diodes. USGS counts integrated circuits and optoelectronic devices as almost all gallium use in the United States.

What this does not tell you: Which chips the gallium ended up in, or who refined it to high purity. The country table covers primary low-purity production and capacity; the summary does not break high-purity refining down by country.

By country, as printed in the 2026 edition. Unit: kilograms. W is withheld, NA not available, a dash is zero. USGS rounds the world total.

A figure in bold is one the edition printed differently from the edition before it. A row appears once per edition that printed it, so a row that starts or stops partway down covers only the editions that carried it. Where the publisher renamed a row, both names are here, each over its own editions. The revisions page joins a renamed row into one series only where this record has declared the rename, and that series says so.

What germanium is used for. Germanium is used in fibre optics, infrared optics and the germanium wafers under solar cells on satellites. In chips it is alloyed with silicon as silicon-germanium for high-speed transistors.

What this does not tell you: How much of it the chip industry uses. USGS does not report semiconductors as a separate use of germanium, and this record does not estimate a share.

By country: not shown. The summary prints no World total row, so no country table.

A figure in bold is one the edition printed differently from the edition before it. A row appears once per edition that printed it, so a row that starts or stops partway down covers only the editions that carried it. Where the publisher renamed a row, both names are here, each over its own editions. The revisions page joins a renamed row into one series only where this record has declared the rename, and that series says so.

What helium and the rare gases are used for. In a fab, helium is a purge and carrier gas and cools wafers during processing; USGS counts semiconductors in one use group with fibre optics and controlled atmospheres. From the 2026 edition the summary also covers neon, krypton and xenon, which lithography lasers and etching use.

What this does not tell you: What a fab pays for any of these gases. USGS prints a base price for Grade-A helium in its text and states that rare-gas prices were unavailable.

By country: not shown. The header names 8 year columns and the World total row has 3 figures, so two tables share these lines and no cell can be placed with certainty.

A figure in bold is one the edition printed differently from the edition before it. A row appears once per edition that printed it, so a row that starts or stops partway down covers only the editions that carried it. Where the publisher renamed a row, both names are here, each over its own editions. The revisions page joins a renamed row into one series only where this record has declared the rename, and that series says so.

What indium is used for. Most indium becomes indium tin oxide, the transparent conductive coating on flat-panel displays. Smaller uses include solders and indium phosphide, the compound semiconductor behind the lasers and detectors in optical communications.

What this does not tell you: How much of it the chip industry uses. USGS does not report semiconductors as a separate use of indium, and this record does not estimate a share.

By country, as printed in the 2026 edition. Unit: metric tons. W is withheld, NA not available, a dash is zero. USGS rounds the world total.

A figure in bold is one the edition printed differently from the edition before it. A row appears once per edition that printed it, so a row that starts or stops partway down covers only the editions that carried it. Where the publisher renamed a row, both names are here, each over its own editions. The revisions page joins a renamed row into one series only where this record has declared the rename, and that series says so.