Chips, AI GPUs, data centers, robotics, batteries, power grids, solar, wind, defense. All of it runs on a handful of raw materials. And the real story lives in three distinct layers: who mines it (where it comes out of the ground), who refines it (who turns it into usable material) and who manufactures (who uses it to build products). China shows up everywhere — but almost never because it has the raw material in its own ground.
Each card shows three layers: 🌍 mining (where it's extracted, USGS), 🏭 refining (who processes it, IEA) and 🏗️ manufacturing (who consumes it). Tap for the full detail and supply chain. Filter by end-technology.
Where we're heading — and which raw materials it depends on. Tap a material to open its profile. The ones in red are critical-risk (geographic concentration or refining monopoly).
Projected demand growth to 2040 (IEA Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025, stated-policies scenario) and breakdown by use. Not all have a formal IEA projection; in those cases we indicate the direction and the driver.
Ranked by expected pressure — a mix of demand growth, geographic concentration and supply maturity.
| Raw material | Demand →2040 | Main driver | Concentration | Pressure |
|---|
The core thesis in one chart: where supply and demand diverge, a deficit opens up and pulls prices up. Solid line = known/estimated; dashed = forecast. These curves are built to be fed by live API data later — the historical part will update itself, the forecast is ours to revise.
Mini supply/demand curves. Tap any to open the full profile.
Each material's story in plain language: what's in demand today, what will be in demand in the coming years, and whether we'll have enough. The bar shows how much of 2040 demand projected supply can cover — the rest is the gap.
Reference prices and supply/demand balance. Some metals trade on public exchanges (LME/COMEX/GFEX); the rest are sold by private contract and have no continuous public quote.
2035–2040 projection. Green bar = projected supply (announced projects); the remainder to 100% is the deficit that pulls prices up.