Top Industries purchasing Yttrium (Y)
Yttrium is a heavy rare earth often used to stabilize materials under extreme stress or heat.
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.
Yttrium is a heavy rare earth often used to stabilize materials under extreme stress or heat.
| Rank | Industry | Volume (MT) | % Usage | Primary Applications |
| 1 | Ceramics & Refractories | ~6,750 | 45.0% | Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) for sensors and fuel cells. |
| 2 | Electronics & Phosphors | ~3,000 | 20.0% | LED/OLED phosphors, flat panel displays, and chip resistors. |
| 3 | Metallurgy & Alloys | ~2,250 | 15.0% | Deoxidizer in steel; heat-resistant magnesium/aluminum alloys. |
| 4 | Healthcare & Medical | ~1,200 | 8.0% | Yttrium-90 for cancer therapy; dental ceramics. |
| 5 | Aerospace & Defense | ~750 | 5.0% | Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) for jet engine turbine blades. |
| 6 | Glass & Optics | ~375 | 2.5% | High-refractive index camera lenses and fiber optics. |
| 7 | Laser Technology | ~225 | 1.5% | Nd:YAG crystals for industrial cutting and surgical lasers. |
| 8 | Chemical Manufacturing | ~150 | 1.0% | Catalysts for ethylene polymerization and organic synthesis. |
| 9 | Energy (Fuel Cells) | ~120 | 0.8% | Electrolytes for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). |
| 10 | Automotive | ~75 | 0.5% | Oxygen sensors in exhaust systems; ignition components. |
| 11 | 3D Printing (Additive) | ~45 | 0.3% | Specialized ceramic and metal powders for aerospace parts. |
| 12 | Telecommunications | ~30 | 0.2% | Yttrium Iron Garnets (YIG) for microwave signal filters. |
| 13 | Nuclear Energy | ~15 | 0.1% | Neutron-transparent alloys and radiation detection crystals. |
| 14 | Renewable Energy | ~10 | <0.1% | Phosphors for high-efficiency concentrated solar power. |
| 15 | Quantum Computing | Trace | <0.1% | Rare-earth-doped crystals for quantum memory/qubits. |
| 16 | Jewelry (Synthetic) | Trace | <0.1% | Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (YAG) as diamond simulants. |
| 17 | Marine Engineering | Trace | Trace | Corrosion-resistant coatings for deep-sea hardware. |
| 18 | Space Technology | Trace | Trace | Radiation-hardened lenses for satellite cameras. |
| 19 | Advanced Textiles | Trace | Trace | IR-reflective coatings for specialized protective gear. |
| 20 | Superconductors | Trace | Trace | Research into YBCO superconducting wire. |
Major Individual Company Purchasers
- Mitsui Mining & Smelting (Mitsui Kinzoku): Through its subsidiary Nippon Yttrium Co., it is one of the world's largest purchasers and refiners of Yttrium for the electronics and display industries.
- GE Aerospace: A massive purchaser of Yttrium-based thermal barrier coatings. These coatings allow jet engines to operate at temperatures higher than the melting point of the metal blades themselves.
- Novartis / Sirtex Medical: A primary purchaser of Yttrium-90, used in their "SIR-Spheres" treatment for liver cancer—a high-value, high-growth medical application.
- Samsung Electronics: Consumes significant Yttrium for the phosphor layers in its high-end QLED and OLED display panels.
- Saint-Gobain: A global leader in ceramics that purchases Yttrium to produce yttria-stabilized zirconia used in industrial sensors and wear-resistant parts.
- Bloom Energy: A major purchaser for the green energy sector, utilizing Yttrium in the ceramic electrolytes of its grid-scale solid oxide fuel cells.
- 3M: Purchases Yttrium compounds for specialized dental ceramics (Lava Esthetic) and high-performance industrial abrasives.
- Wacker Chemie AG: A significant purchaser of high-purity yttrium precursors for use in its semiconductor and specialty chemical divisions.
- U.S. Department of Defense: In late 2025, the Pentagon increased strategic purchasing of Yttrium to secure supply chains for missile guidance systems and aerospace alloys.
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.