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Collaborative Development of the Tantalum Materials Industry

The tantalum materials industry is building a collaborative ecosystem across the entire supply chain, from mineral production to application. To ensure resource security, China's five major tantalum mining companies have formed an industry alliance to jointly explore for 1,200 tons of new reserves by 2024. A strategic reserve mechanism will also be established to ensure a stable supply of raw materials. In the smelting process, a "Rare Metal Separation Technology Laboratory" has been established in collaboration with universities, resulting in the development of a selective extraction process that increases the tantalum-niobium separation coefficient to 5,000 and reduces separation costs by 30%.

In high-end manufacturing, a collaborative model of "university R&D - enterprise pilot production - industrial transformation" has been established. Tantalum powder spheroidization technology developed by universities has been industrialized through pilot production lines, achieving internationally leading product performance. Downstream of the supply chain, chip manufacturers and materials companies have established joint laboratories to jointly develop application technologies for large-size tantalum targets, increasing the utilization rate of domestic targets in 12-inch wafers from 10% to 45%. This full-chain collaboration not only increased my country's tantalum material self-sufficiency rate from 35% in 2018 to 72% in 2024, but also pushed the industry's overall technological level into the international first echelon.