The US Department of War will provide $174 million in financing to Alcoa to build a Gallium Plant at its Wagerup alumina refinery in Western Australia. The funding is part of Washington’s broader push to reduce dependence on China for critical minerals used in defence and semiconductor applications.
US Financing Supports Gallium Plant Construction
The Gallium Plant will be located at Alcoa’s existing Wagerup refinery, one of the company’s major alumina processing facilities in Western Australia. Construction began in July 2026, and Alcoa is developing the project in partnership with Japan’s Sojitz and the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security.
The US financing is designed to help establish an alternative source of gallium production outside China, which accounts for about 98 percent of global output. Beijing introduced export controls on gallium in 2023 and subsequently banned all direct flows of the mineral to the US the following year.
Gallium is a key input in high-performance semiconductors that underpin defence technologies, including advanced radar systems and missile guidance equipment. The mineral’s concentration in Chinese supply chains has prompted Western governments to seek new production capacity in allied nations.
Michael Cadenazzi, assistant secretary of war for industrial base policy, described the agreement as a landmark arrangement with Australia and Japan that would secure a vital supply of gallium for the US defence industrial base. Cadenazzi said the partnership would strengthen collective security and economic resilience for years to come.
The investment reflects a pattern of US efforts to diversify critical minerals supply chains by working with allied countries. Washington has increasingly turned to Australia as a source for minerals where Chinese producers hold dominant market positions in both production and processing.
Gallium Project Targets 100 Tonnes a Year
Alcoa expects the Gallium Plant to produce approximately 100 tonnes of gallium metal per year once operational. That output would represent a meaningful addition to non-Chinese gallium production capacity at a time when Western nations are actively seeking to build resilient semiconductor supply chain infrastructure.
The involvement of Sojitz and the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security underscores the trilateral nature of the project, with the US providing financing, Australia hosting the production facility, and Japan contributing through its established critical minerals investment framework.
The Wagerup refinery is well suited for gallium extraction because gallium is commonly recovered as a byproduct during the processing of alumina from bauxite ore. Alcoa’s existing refining operations at the site provide the foundation for integrating gallium production into an already active processing facility in Western Australia.
The Gallium Plant project adds to a growing list of critical minerals initiatives backed by US financing as governments work to build supply chains that are less exposed to concentration risk. The development highlights the strategic importance of gallium production to both defence minerals requirements and broader semiconductor supply chain security.
Construction at the Wagerup site is now under way, and the project stands as one of the most significant Western-backed gallium production efforts currently in development.