How did we get to a point where two companies in Japan closing puts our entire economy and national security at risk?

They just stopped making tungsten hexafluoride — a specialized gas used to make semiconductors.

In practice, the free world just lost the only qualified producers making this gas at scale outside of China.

This is deeply concerning and should be a much bigger news story.

Why aren't there dozens of companies ready to step in?

Because Washington spent decades making it too hard and expensive to build and operate the mines, processors, refineries, chemical plants, and factories modern industry depends on.

Regulations. Red tape. Permitting delays. Environmental restrictions. Lawsuits. Bureaucracy.

So the companies disappeared. And China absorbed the capacity.

That's why a closure in Japan is a serious threat to America and its allies.