Insider Brief
- A report by CIRCULAR REPUBLIC and kiutra warns that the quantum technology sector faces major supply-chain risks due to heavy dependence on scarce raw materials largely controlled by China and Brazil.
- The report argues that quantum hardware companies still have time to build circular supply chains before industry standards and supplier relationships become locked in, unlike the semiconductor and battery sectors.
- The organizations are proposing a Circular Quantum Industry Alliance, backed by the European Quantum Industry Consortium, to promote recycling, resilience, and sustainability across Europe’s emerging quantum ecosystem.
PRESS RELEASE — The quantum technology sector is entering its scaling phase at precisely the wrong moment to ignore where its materials come from. A new report by CIRCULAR REPUBLIC and Munich-based cryogenic company kiutra documents a structural vulnerability at the heart of the quantum ambition: the hardware depends on a narrow set of critical raw materials: rare earth elements, niobium, gallium, indium, and helium-3, for which Europe produces a negligible share of what it needs. China dominates rare earth elements, gallium, and germanium. Brazil controls 92% of global niobium supply.
In April 2025, China’s export restrictions triggered a 74% year-on-year collapse in rare earth magnet exports, halting automotive and wind turbine production lines across Europe. Recycling rates for those materials remain below 1% globally. By the time the dependency became undeniable, redesigning around it cost vastly more than building resilience in from the start.
Unlike the semiconductor and battery industries, where these vulnerabilities only surfaced once supply chains were already locked in, quantum hardware companies still have room to move. Supplier relationships are not yet fixed, as architectures are still being settled.
That is the opportunity the report is designed to capture. Circular supply-chain strategies are the mechanism by which Europe avoids recreating, in its most strategically important emerging industry, the same import dependencies that have repeatedly undermined its industrial sovereignty.
To act on that opportunity, CIRCULAR REPUBLIC and kiutra are proposing a Circular Quantum Industry Alliance, backed by the European Quantum Industry Consortium, to bring together quantum hardware companies, enabling technology providers, research organisations, and policymakers. The goal is concrete: make circularity a design principle of how the European quantum ecosystem scales and brings economic success.
“Other industries, such as rare earth magnets, had the signals. What they lacked was collective action early enough to matter. Quantum is at that inflection point now. This report is our contribution to making sure the industry uses it, and the Circular Quantum Industry Alliance is our proposal for how we do that together.” Polina Ivanova, Project Manager at CIRCULAR REPUBLIC
“As a cryogenic infrastructure provider for quantum, we see complex material dependencies forming in real time. Quantum still has what other mature industries never had: The circularity playbooks available and enough time to act. Circular strategies can substantially improve resilience, scalability, and sustainability of the quantum industry. This report is our attempt to facilitate the industry walks through that door while it is still open.” Tomek Schulz, COO and Co-founder of kiutra
The report — which you can download here — was presented at Q-Expo in Bilbao, 19 May.
