Top Industries purchasing Ytterbium (Yb)
Major Individual Company Purchasers
Caution: This content was sourced and arranged by AI and thus may be subject to errors, biases, omissions, or antiquation.
This information can provide a general sense of industry dynamics, but may be unreliable in its specifics, or as an isolated basis for investment decisions.
| Rank | Industry | Volume (MT) | % Usage | Primary Applications |
| 1 | Fiber Laser Manufacturing | ~17.50 | 35.0% | Yb-doped silica fibers for high-power industrial cutting/welding. |
| 2 | Steel & Metallurgy | ~10.00 | 20.0% | Grain refiner in stainless steel to improve mechanical properties. |
| 3 | Nuclear Medicine | ~7.50 | 15.0% | Yb-169 isotopes for radiography and Yb-176 for Lu-177. |
| 4 | Scientific Research / R&D | ~5.00 | 10.0% | Atomic clocks (Ytterbium lattice), quantum memory, and physics. |
| 5 | Electronics & Semiconductors | ~3.50 | 7.0% | Dopants for high-k dielectrics and specialized capacitors. |
| 6 | Solar Energy (Next-Gen) | ~2.50 | 5.0% | Down-conversion layers in silicon solar cells to increase efficiency. |
| 7 | Aerospace & Defense | ~1.50 | 3.0% | Infrared-shielding coatings and laser rangefinders. |
| 8 | Chemical Manufacturing | ~1.00 | 2.0% | Specialized catalysts for organic synthesis (Lewis acids). |
| 9 | Medical Imaging | ~0.50 | 1.0% | Scintillation crystals for PET/CT scanners and X-ray phosphor. |
| 10 | Quantum Computing | ~0.40 | 0.8% | Qubits in ion-trap and neutral-atom quantum processors. |
| 11 | Optical Glass & Fiber | ~0.25 | 0.5% | High-refractive-index lenses and signal amplifiers. |
| 12 | Industrial Radiography | ~0.15 | 0.3% | Non-destructive testing (NDT) of welds and pipeline integrity. |
| 13 | Renewable Energy (Wind) | ~0.10 | 0.2% | Minor additive in permanent magnet coatings to prevent corrosion. |
| 14 | Ceramics Engineering | ~0.05 | 0.1% | Magnetic ceramics and specialized kiln-monitoring sensors. |
| 15 | Precision Lab Gear | Trace | <0.1% | Calibration standards for mass spectrometry. |
| 16 | Laser Technology (Dental) | Trace | <0.1% | Yb:YAG lasers for soft-tissue dental procedures. |
| 17 | Marine Exploration | Trace | Trace | Deep-sea sensors requiring high pressure/heat resistance. |
| 18 | Telecommunications | Trace | Trace | Advanced optical switching components for 6G research. |
| 19 | Space Technology | Trace | Trace | Radiation-hardened sensors for deep-space probes. |
| 20 | Artificial Intelligence | Trace | Trace | Emerging photonics-based AI accelerator chips. |
Major Individual Company Purchasers
- IPG Photonics: As the world leader in high-power fiber lasers, they are arguably the largest industrial purchaser of Ytterbium. They use it to dope the active fibers that power lasers used for automotive and aerospace manufacturing.
- Coherent Corp. (formerly II-VI): A major purchaser for the production of engineered materials, optoelectronics, and laser crystals used in global telecommunications.
- Novartis (via Advanced Accelerator Applications): A significant purchaser of Ytterbium-176, which is the essential precursor material used to produce Lutetium-177 for precision cancer therapies (e.g., Pluvicto).
- Trumpf Group: A leading European manufacturer of machine tools and industrial lasers that consumes Ytterbium for its high-end disk and fiber laser systems.
- Honeywell Quantum Solutions (Quantinuum): One of the primary purchasers in the quantum sector, utilizing Ytterbium ions as qubits in their trapped-ion quantum computers.
- GE HealthCare: Purchases Ytterbium-based materials for specialized medical diagnostic equipment and high-contrast imaging research.
- Safran S.A.: Utilizes Ytterbium in specialized aerospace alloys and sensor arrays where thermal stability is paramount.
- Heraeus Precious Metals: A primary global distributor and refiner that purchases Ytterbium oxide to supply the chemical and pharmaceutical industries with high-purity salts.
- Shin-Etsu Chemical: A Japanese chemical giant that purchases Ytterbium for its specialized semiconductor and rare-earth materials divisions.
Caution: This content was sourced and arranged by AI and thus may be subject to errors, biases, omissions, or antiquation.
This information can provide a general sense of industry dynamics, but may be unreliable in its specifics, or as an isolated basis for investment decisions.