Tibet quartz discovery boosts China’s self-sufficiency push for hi-tech materials

Name: What are rare earths, and why is China’s dominance facing global pushback
Uploaded: 2026-06-08T02:00:10.000Z
Duration: 8 min 58 s
Description: What are rare earths, and why is China’s dominance facing global pushback

China’s discovery of rare quartz used to make solar panels and semiconductors could help rewrite US import dominance

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Chinese researchers say global high-purity quartz resources are “scarce and highly unevenly distributed, leading to significant supply chain risks”. Photo: Getty Images

Victoria Bela

Published: 10:00am, 8 Jun 2026

China has discovered a new source of high-purity quartz in its western Tibet autonomous region, potentially reducing its reliance on imports of the critical material to make solar panels and semiconductors.

High-purity quartz is a gold standard manufacturing material for numerous hi-tech items, including some whose global market is dominated by China.

China has relied on imports to obtain the important material, with most coming from the United States, because of a lack of domestic sources for the rare quartz. But recent geological discoveries could help China rewrite that dependence.

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What are rare earths, and why is China’s dominance facing global pushback

“This study evaluates Tibet leucogranites as a potential raw material for high-purity quartz,” according to a paper published in the European Journal of Mineralogy in April.

“Our results demonstrate that these leucogranites hold considerable potential to produce high-purity quartz with [silica] contents above 99.995 per cent,” the team from the University of Science and Technology of China and the China Geological Survey wrote.

The study showed that the high-purity quartz supply exceeded the threshold required for use in hi-tech manufacturing.

The finding “offers a significant opportunity to develop high-end quartz resources in China, ensuring a stable and strategic supply of high-purity quartz raw materials”, the authors said.

Tibet quartz discovery boosts China’s self-sufficiency push for hi-tech materials

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}China’s discovery of rare quartz used to make solar panels and semiconductors could help rewrite US import dominance

China’s discovery of rare quartz used to make solar panels and semiconductors could help rewrite US import dominance