Geopolitics of mobile phones: global tensions are changing the industry’s production chain

When you look at the origin of the raw materials it is produced in, the origin of its components or the factories where it is assembled, every mobile phone is a small world map. The screen’s quartz may come from the United States or China, but the potassium to increase its resistance may come from Canada or Belarus. Microelectronics inside may include copper from Chile, silver from Mexico, and tungsten from Russia, and tantalum from coltan in the Democratic Republic of Congo is essential for regulating its temperature. Its energetic spirit resides in the battery, perhaps armed with lithium from Argentina and graphite from India. Its microchips and semiconductors probably come from Taiwan or South Korea, while its operating system was designed in California. The final product does not leave the store, but from factories in China, Vietnam or India.