China’s Tungsten Controls Expose a Semiconductor Chokepoint

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian, Senior Research Fellow Jahara Matisek, and Brandon Owens write about how WF6, a critical semiconductor gas, remains available despite reports of Japanese production exits. Yet China-linked tungsten feedstock controls, price spikes, concentrated supply, and 18–24-month qualification cycles expose a deeper bottleneck AI-driven chip demand cannot quickly solve.  July 13, 2026.