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Technology Stocks : WDC, NAND, NVM, enterprise storage systems, etc.
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From: Unwelcomeguest6/29/2018 8:39:17 AM
   of 4828
 
Just when people were saying to back up the truck, this pops up...

Link: seekingalpha.com

Clipped from article:

Western Digital ( WDC), Seagate ( STX)

Rare earth materials are used in two components of hard disk drives (HDDs), magnets and the spinning glass disks, and are also used in the chemical mechanical polishing of the glass disks.

Every hard disk drive actually contains two powerful neodymium-iron-boron magnets that control the movements of the read/write heads. Sixteen percent of the world's rare earth magnets are currently used in HDDs.

Rare earths are also used to produce high-strength glass substrates, which feature optimal properties for use in hard disks. Praseodymium (Pr) and erbium (Er) are introduced into the composition of glass at a nano-scale level. The rare earth ions attract oxygen ions and the glass is transformed into high-strength compressed glass, which exceeds conventional disks in strength, chemical stability, and adhesion to a magnetic recording layer.

Finally, cerium (Ce) slurry is used as a polishing slurry for these glass disks. Glass disks have rapidly replace aluminum disks for HDDs, according to The Information Network's report "The Hard Disk Drive (HDD) And Solid State Drive (SSD) Industries: Market Analysis And Processing Trends."

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The article is an interesting read about how China has cleverly cornered the rare earth metals market.

UWG
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