On March 18, the “Joint Struggle Headquarters,” formed by multiple unions at Samsung Electronics, announced that support for the strike that had been underway since the 9th of this month reached as high as 93.1. The union is expected to launch an 18-day general strike in late May. At a time when the global boom in data center construction continued to drive up demand for semiconductors, this move could cause wild swings in the global AI semiconductor supply chain.

On the afternoon of March 19, Li Bin, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of NIO, said at the Advanced Manufacturing Summit in Shanghai that the cumulative volume production of NIO’s self-developed chips had exceeded 550,000 units. He said that the automotive semiconductor industry was currently facing three major challenges: a surge in demand for AI computing power, fragmentation of chip architectures, and supply chain fluctuations. NIO was advancing the unification and standardisation of automotive chips, with the goal of covering whole-vehicle selection with no more than 400 specifications; by 2027, the localisation rate of NIO’s automotive semiconductors was expected to reach 35–40.

According to a Yonhap News Agency report, industry sources said on Tuesday that AMD CEO Lisa Su is expected to visit South Korea on Wednesday, including a visit to Samsung Electronics' chip production site, marking her first visit to the country since taking office in 2014. The sources said the two companies are expected to discuss cooperation in the semiconductor toll processing sector, as well as expanding their partnership beyond memory chips. Meanwhile, Su is also expected to visit the headquarters of South Korean portal operator Naver on Wednesday to discuss cooperation in the artificial intelligence data center business with the company's CEO.

Samsung Electronics' largest union in South Korea warned that chip production could be disrupted if members approve the plan in a strike vote in May. As the world's largest memory chip maker, a strike at Samsung could exacerbate global semiconductor supply bottlenecks. Choi Seung-ho, chairman of the Samsung Electronics Labor Union (SELU), said at the launch of the vote last week: "I expect there will be production disruptions." The vote will continue through Wednesday. Choi Seung-ho said that if labor and management fail to reach an agreement, the union is expected to hold an 18-day strike starting May 21, which could affect about half of the production at the massive semiconductor complex in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul. The Samsung union is demanding a 7% raise in base pay, the removal of the performance-based compensation cap, currently set at 50% of annual base salary, and the introduction of a bonus pool based on operating profit.

Following memory and packaging, a new wave of price hikes swept through the semiconductor industry chain. Mature-process wafer foundries in Taiwan, including UMC, Vanguard, and PSMC, were reported to raise quotations as early as April, by as much as 10 or even more. Major users of mature processes—IC design houses led by driver IC makers—were also expected to raise prices in response to rising costs. UMC did not comment on market rumors of price hikes, but the company had previously said that the current pricing environment was "indeed more favorable than before." In a notice, Vanguard said it planned to adjust toll processing prices starting in April 2026, but did not disclose the size of the increase. PSMC confirmed that it had gradually raised prices since the current quarter, mainly for product lines with lower gross margins.

As a niche yet high-strategic rare metal, hafnium (Hf, atomic number 72) lags behind common metals like copper in public awareness, but its unique physicochemical properties make it irreplaceable for nuclear power, aerospace, semiconductors and other high-end fields. This concise breakdown covers its core traits, supply dynamics and critical applications to highlight its underrecognized role in advanced manufacturing. I. Core Properties A silver-gray, high-melting-point transition metal, hafnium exists solely as a zirconium-associated metal—no independent ore deposits. The near-identical atomic radius and chemical properties of zirconium and hafnium make separation/purification highly challenging, the root of its scarcity.Key strengths for harsh industrial use: 2233℃ melting point, exceptional high-temperature oxidation/structural stability Strong room-temperature plasticity, balanced strength and toughness Superior corrosion resistance (insoluble in dilute acids/alkalis, soluble only in hydrofluoric acid/aqua regia) ~600x higher thermal neutron absorption than zirconium (ideal for nuclear reactor control) High dielectric constant of hafnium oxide (critical for advanced semiconductors) Carbides/nitrides (melting point >2900℃) for ultra-high-temperature ceramics and hard alloys II. Supply & Scarcity Resources: Extremely scarce (crustal abundance ~3 ppm), exclusively tied to zirconium ores. Global resources concentrated in Australia, South Africa, the U.S. and Brazil; China faces low hafnium content in domestic zirconium ores, leading to high external dependence. Supply: Production hinges on zirconium smelting, with zirconium-hafnium separation as a core technical barrier. Only a handful of global players produce high-purity (nuclear/electronic-grade) hafnium at scale, forming an oligopoly. Annual output is ~hundreds of tons, with ultra-low supply elasticity—supply disruptions trigger sharp price swings. Ⅲ. Irreplaceable Core Applications Demand is rigid (no cost-effective substitutes) across high-end sectors: Nuclear Industry: Preferred material for pressurized water reactor control rods, regulating reaction rates and ensuring safety. Driven by global nuclear power revival, demand is steadily growing. Aerospace: Key nickel-based single-crystal superalloy additive, boosting high-temperature creep strength and lifespan for aero-engine turbine blades, combustors and rocket nozzles. Semiconductors: High-purity electronic-grade hafnium oxide overcomes silicon dioxide’s miniaturization limits, reducing leakage current and enabling advanced-node chip production—a key growth driver. Other High-End Fields: Used in cutting tool coatings, special electronic components, corrosion-resistant materials and emerging hydrogen storage research, with expanding use cases. Ⅳ. Conclusion Hafnium is a "scarce niche metal with rigid high-end demand," holding irreplaceable strategic value in China’s key industries (nuclear power, aerospace, semiconductors). The global market remains in long-term tight supply-demand balance, and its strategic and market value will rise alongside global advanced manufacturing upgrades.