NTS Insights
NTS analysis on semiconductor and materials supply chains
- export-control
- china-export-controls
- critical-materials
China Export Control Suspension: November 2026 Scenarios
On paper, China's export-control suspension still ends November 10, 2026; the political deadline is January 10, 2027. What each date leaves a buyer.
Read more- glass-cloth
- ccl
- supply-chain
7628 Glass Cloth: Why the Plainest Weave Is the Shortage
7628 glass cloth is short because looms left it, not because demand rose. Copper foil shows the same shift, and its percentages hide mismatched dates.
Read more- triflic-acid
- specialty-chemicals
- dangerous-goods
Triflic Acid: 1 kg Is 0.59 L, and That Decides How It Ships
One kilogram of triflic acid is 0.59 litres. That's inside the 1 L road and sea limit, outside the 0.5 L air limit — and Korea deleted its hazard category.
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- fr-4-laminate
- ccl
- high-voltage
High-CTI Copper Clad Laminate (CCL): When CTI 600 Matters
High-CTI FR-4 for high-voltage PCBs. CTI 600 shortens creepage only on some tables, and which standard the designer used decides whether you need the grade.
Read more- quality-control
- procurement-strategy
- sourcing
Import Quality Claims From China: Four Deadlines, One Notice, and Customs Cost
Quality claims fail on notice timing more than on lab results. Four deadlines start at different moments; each remedy has its own Korean customs cost.
Read more- taiwan
- supply-chain
- market-analysis
Taiwan's Semiconductor Supply Chain: Where Materials Come From and What Taiwan Lets In from China
Taiwan's chip supply chain buys bulk materials mostly from China, high-spec ones from Japan. Taiwan admits Chinese raw materials but bans some finished parts.
Read more- import-guide
- korea
- customs
Importing Rare Earth Compounds into Korea: Which Licence, Which Code, and What '99.99%' Leaves Out
Every rare earth oxide and salt China exports needs a licence; only seven elements need the dual-use one. The licence map, Korean codes and the COA trap.
Read more- export-control
- china-export-controls
- critical-materials
MOFCOM Export Licence Application: What the Buyer Supplies, and When the Clock Starts
Your supplier files the MOFCOM licence; the end-user certificate is yours. What a buyer supplies, how the 45-working-day review really runs, and what the licence allows once issued.
Read more- payment-terms
- trade-finance
- procurement-strategy
T/T, L/C or Usance: Designing Import Payment Terms With a Chinese Mill
Each payment term fixes what you hold when you pay: a contract, a B/L copy, or the originals. Usance is not always supplier credit, and its interest can be dutiable in Korea.
Read more- japan
- supply-chain
- market-analysis
Japanese Materials Companies, Mapped: Who Sets the Reference Grade, and What Sits Underneath It
Japanese makers set the reference grade; Japan's yttria imports were ~95% Chinese through 2025. A map of Japanese materials companies across zirconia, SiC, rare earths and specialty chemicals, and how to write a spec a second source can meet.
Read more- graphite
- export-control
- battery-anode
China's Graphite Export Control Is a Line, Not a Wall — and It Already Runs Through Coated Spherical Graphite
China already licenses every grade of natural flake graphite, coated spherical included, while synthetic anode sits outside the control today. Here is where the line falls and what to write into an RFQ.
Read more- spray-drying
- granulation
- powder-quality
Spray Drying Ceramic Press Granules: What the Slurry Decides Before the Press
Whether a spray-dried granule is hollow is set mostly by slurry dispersion. Size granules dry, don't read LOI as binder, and name every test method.
Read more- incoterms
- procurement-strategy
- customs
FOB, CIF or DDP: The Incoterms Choice for Materials Trade Into Korea
FOB doesn't lower Korean dutiable value; DDP doesn't drop an import requirement. Korea's base is CIF-type either way — what the Incoterm moves is evidence: the transport document, the policy, and the carrier's liability cap.
Read more- sofc
- soec
- hydrogen
Hydrogen Policy and the SOFC Market: When a Subsidy Becomes an Electrolyte Order
A hydrogen auction award is not an electrolyte order: Korea's rules give winners 24 to 36 months to build, one manufacturer's 2025 order book went negative, and some solid-oxide cells contain no zirconia.
Read more- specialty-gas
- import-guide
- korea
Specialty Gas Import into Korea: Use Filings, Cylinder Inspection, and What the Statute Actually Fixes
Sixteen gases trigger a Korean use filing at any volume — no quantity threshold. Ten of fifteen cannot fly, and no public tariff line exists.
Read more- silicon-carbide
- power-semiconductors
- procurement-strategy
SiC Device Datasheet Checkpoints: When '1200V 40A' Names Two Different Parts
Two 1200V 40A SiC diodes with the same package marking differ 3.6x in per-leg i²t. An AEC-Q101 part can carry identical datasheet numbers to the industrial one. What to specify instead.
Read more- tungsten
- export-control
- cemented-carbide
China's Tungsten Export Controls Are Three Layers Deep — and February 2025 Only Added the Second
February 2025 added a second control layer to tungsten, not the first — and the November 2026 deadlines do not touch it. Where the control actually stops.
Read more- powder-quality
- lot-verification
- quality-control
Powder Sample Evaluation: What Three Lots Can and Cannot Prove
No standard we could find requires three lots — the nearest thing to a written origin is a footnote in a 1987 FDA guideline. Design what the lots must show, then put it in the contract.
Read more- zirconia
- zircon-sand
- supply-chain
Zirconia's Raw Material Chain: Zircon Sand, the 1 Bq/g Line, and What '99.9%' Means
Zirconia's radiological status is set by the refining route, not the compound — and zircon supply answers to the titanium pigment market, not to yours.
Read more- sputtering-target
- import-guide
- korea
Importing Sputtering Targets into Korea: Classification, Export Control, and the Return Leg
A sputtering target has no HS heading of its own, and bonding changes it. Korea's tax tribunal has ruled on that split; China's control list names targets.
Read more- gallium
- germanium
- export-control
Gallium and Germanium Export Controls: Two Deadlines in November 2026
Still in force in 2026. Unwrought gallium exports fell 94% in 2025 after a 2024 recovery, and two suspension deadlines fall in November.
Read more- silicon-carbide
- sic-wafer
- sic-8-inch
SiC Wafer 8-Inch Transition: A Substrate Market Split in Two
Six-inch SiC substrates sell near cost; eight-inch has no standard price yet. Amid restructurings and a liquidation, supplier financials now matter as much as specs. A procurement view.
Read more- ysz
- thermal-barrier-coating
- zirconia
YSZ Powder for Thermal Barrier Coatings: Why '8YSZ' Names Two Different Materials
In TBC practice 8YSZ means 8 wt% yttria (~4.5 mol%); in SOFC practice it means 8 mol%, roughly 1.7x the yttria. Specify wt% Y₂O₃ on the order and check it against the COA.
Read more- procurement-strategy
- china-supply
- sourcing
China Supplier Due Diligence: What Each Document Actually Proves
Registered capital, business scope and ISO certificates prove less than buyers assume. A supplier audit checklist for China that separates regulation from custom.
Read more- export-control
- critical-materials
- supply-chain
December 31, 2026 Is a Real Chinese Export Deadline — Just Not for Dysprosium
China runs two separate export licence systems with different clocks. One expires on December 31 every year; the one dysprosium, scandium and yttrium ship on does not. Which date governs your shipment, and how to read it off your own paperwork.
Read more- sofc
- scandium
- scsz
Fuel Cells for AI Data Centres: Why Scandium Demand Figures Disagree
AI data centres started buying solid oxide fuel cells at scale in 2026. The scandium tonnage figures now circulating differ by an order of magnitude, none of them shows its arithmetic, and here is what that arithmetic would actually need.
Read more- silicon-carbide
- sic-powder
- powder-quality
SiC Powder: 7 Things to Settle Before You Request a Quote
Grade, particle size, distribution, Fe units, Ti gating, multi-modal packing, and contract terms — the seven specifications that decide whether an SiC powder quote is comparable at all.
Read more- ysz
- scsz
- sofc
YSZ vs ScSZ: A SOFC Electrolyte Comparison and Selection Guide
An engineering comparison of YSZ and ScSZ solid oxide fuel cell electrolytes — conductivity versus temperature, aging, mechanical limits, and supply risk as a design input.
Read more- yttrium
- export-control
- ysz
Dysprosium Flows Recovered, Yttrium's Did Not — China's Rare Earth Controls
Sixteen months on from MOFCOM's seven-element rare earth licensing: which controls actually bit, what the November 10, 2026 expiry changes, and why requalification time is the binding constraint.
Read more- ysz
- yttrium
- export-control
Importing YSZ into Korea: An Export-Control and Sourcing Playbook
A practical guide to importing YSZ into Korea under China's yttrium controls — 1C908 scope, HS-code mismatch, K-REACH checks, and dual sourcing.
Read more- ysz
- zirconia
- market-analysis
Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia Market 2026: Size, Demand, Yttrium Risk
A 2026 read on the yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) market — size by source, demand by application, 3Y-TZP vs 8YSZ grades, and a dual raw-material bottleneck in zircon mining and ZOC refining.
Read more- scandium
- export-control
- sofc
How China's Scandium Export Controls Reshaped the SOFC Supply Chain
China's April 2025 MOFCOM Announcement No. 18 put scandium under export licensing, tripling scandium oxide prices and disrupting solid-oxide fuel-cell electrolyte sourcing.
Read more- silicon-carbide
- sic-powder
- spray-drying
Two Faces of Round SiC Powder: Spray-Dried Granules vs Plasma Spheroidized
Round SiC powder is not one thing: grade crushed angular, spray-dried granule, and plasma-spheroidized powders, and what to verify before you buy.
Read more- silicon-carbide
- market-analysis
- sic-price
2026 Global SiC Market Outlook: Demand, Prices, and China Supply
The 2026 global silicon carbide (SiC) market: ~$5.29 billion at a 10.7% CAGR through 2031. Demand by application, the price ladder, and China supply.
Read more- procurement-strategy
- export-controls
- supply-chain
Procurement Strategy Under Export Controls: Licensing, Not Embargo
China's materials export controls are licensing regimes, not embargoes. Five procurement strategies: licensing, dual-sourcing, contracts, and Incoterms.
Read more- china-export-controls
- critical-materials
- supply-chain
China Export Controls Timeline (2023–2026): Critical Materials
China's critical-materials export controls, from gallium to scandium: a chronological reference with per-item status and sourcing implications.
Read more- scandium
- critical-materials
- scarcity
Scandium Production: Just 40 Tonnes a Year, and Why It Stays There
Almost no standalone mines, and only ~40 t of scandium a year despite a crustal abundance the USGS puts above lead, tin and silver — the shortage, SOFC and aerospace demand, and the price spike.
Read more- powder-quality
- sem-eds
- silicon-carbide
Sold as 'Granules' but Not: SEM/EDS Powder Quality Verification
Some 'SiC granules' are really crushed angular powder. A lot-verification protocol with SEM/EDS, PSA, and XRD checking morphology, composition, and phase.
Read more- scsz
- sofc
- electrolyte
The Global ScSZ (SOFC Electrolyte) Supplier Landscape
ScSZ (10Sc1CeSZ) specs and the SOFC electrolyte supplier landscape across China, Japan, the US, and Korea, with a selection-criteria matrix.
Read more- inventory-management
- cash-conversion-cycle
- working-capital
Inventory Buffering and Cash Conversion Cycle in Materials Trading
Inventory buffering is a lead-time service and transfer of risk. A framework on carrying cost, the cash conversion cycle (CCC), and four levers to cut it.
Read more- silicon-carbide
- import-guide
- korea
SiC Powder Import Guide for Korea: HS Code, Tariffs, K-REACH
A practical guide to importing silicon carbide (SiC) powder into Korea: HS classification, tariff rates, FTA origin, K-REACH, and packaging.
Read more