China Looks to Control Global Lithium Supply

China is slowly amassing control over the global supply of lithium, an important mineral in the production supply chain of new technologies.

A man walks past a row of electric cars in Beijing on April 25, 2017. China looks to locking up supply of lithium, an important raw material in producing batteries. Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images

China is slowly amassing control over the global supply of lithium, an important mineral in the production supply chain of new technologies.

On May 17, China-based Tianqi Lithium paid more than $4 billion to purchase a sizable stake in Chile’s Sociedad Química y Minera (SQM), one of the world’s biggest producers of lithium. Tianqi bought the stake in SQM from Canadian fertilizer company Nutrien.