Tungsten is Up As Much As Micron Right Now, Is It The Next Silver Supercycle Trade?

By John Seetoo Published May 29, 10:23AM EDT

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REMX allocates 4% of its portfolio to Almonty Industries, one of the largest tungsten producers outside China with mines across 3 countries.
Tungsten's 800% price surge over 18 months rivals MU's gains, yet the metal remains largely off most investors' radar.
China controls 79% of global tungsten supply, and demand from AI data centers, EVs, and robotics will outstrip available supply by 2026.
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Tungsten is Up As Much As Micron Right Now, Is It The Next Silver Supercycle Trade? — © Anton Petrus / Moment via Getty Images

While Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) | MU Price Prediction has had an extraordinary gain of over 850% in the last 12 months, Tungsten has soared from roughly $380/MT to a sky high $3,180/MT in 18 months – an 800%+ gain that got little coverage and has stayed under the radar except within the mining industry. This bull run parallels and exceeds, percentagewise, the amazing trajectory of better known silver, and there are actually similarities between them surrounding new demand, strategic importance, and geopolitical restrictions. Since only a handful of stocks are involved with tungsten, investors seeking some ETF exposure in tungsten companies might wish to look closely at:

VanEck Rare Earth and Strategic Metals ETF (NYSE: REMX)
iShares S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index ETF (TSX: XBM)

An “Alien” Metal?

A close-up photograph of a bright green circuit board populated with microchips and various electronic components. Superimposed over the technical hardware is a translucent, light green graphic of a financial chart, featuring an upward-trending line graph with circular data points and several ascending bar graphs, signifying growth. The background is softly blurred with green bokeh lights, highlighting the foreground elements.

Tungsten’s immense strength and high melting point make it an ideal material for semiconductor fabrication, along with other applications.

Tungsten has a number of properties that make it unique, and some consider it an “alien” metal, because it doesn’t conform to parameters exhibited by other metals. Some of these include:

Highest tensile strength in pure form of all metals and is immensely hard.
Has the highest melting point of any metal – 6,192 °F.
Tungsten’s density of 19.25 g/cm3 is nearly identical to gold’s 19.30 g/cm3 and was once an often used substance to make counterfeit gold to fool displacement tests and weight scales.
Used for manufacturing of drilling equipment, aerospace, semiconductors, armor-piercing munitions, and other applications.
Due to low commodity prices in the 1990s, many tungsten mines were shut down.

Drastic Supply and Demand Imbalance

Four surgeons, wearing blue scrubs, caps, and masks, work collaboratively around a patient on an operating table under bright surgical lights. Multiple high-tech monitors display real-time medical images, and an IV pole stands in the background, all within a sterile, cool-toned operating room environment.

Tungsten is a key component for manufacturing surgical robotics and various surgical instruments.

There is a market pattern that both silver and tungsten have traveled that make the current state of tungsten’s future prospects to be equally bullish. The pattern has three levels:

Zero excitement, humdrum industrial metal use, stable pricing in a fairly narrow range for years. Underinvested for new supplies as costs make profits negligible.
Industrial demand increases gradually, pricing remains stable, considered unworthy of news coverage.
Rare earth metals are scarce due to China’s market supply dominance. Prices shoot up as export controls and supply chain squeeze forces a drastic supply vs. demand imbalance.
The British Geological Survey forecasts annual increased demand for tungsten at 3-7% under normal circumstances and will outstrip available supply in 2026.

In the case of tungsten, the following events have led to the current supply chain crunch:

Logistics: China, Vietnam, and Russia control almost 90% of global tungsten supply. Both China and the US have added tungsten to its critical rare earth minerals lists, making its export even more restricted and its supply a matter of national security. China is estimated to have supplied 79% of all tungsten globally in 2025.
Military: In addition to its use for high-tech weaponry, missiles, armor piercing rounds, and artillery shells, expanded use of tungsten in aerospace manufacturing of helicopters and fighter jets is increasing by an estimated 12% in 2026. Between 11-15% of global tungsten supply is used for military applications, and the ongoing Ukraine War is further adding supply chain pressures.
Technology: the proliferation of A.I. data centers have drastically escalated tungsten demand for semiconductor and data center infrastructure manufacturing.
EV: Introduced in 2025, niobium-tungsten alloy batteries are the key to recharging in much shorter times (100% in 10 minutes) than lithium or other designs. Tungsten is also crucial to drivetrain and gears and suspension systems.
Robotics: tungsten’s hardness and rigidity is ideal for robotic surgical instruments. It is also used for robotic arm parts and for fine precision cutting machines for robot parts. Several humanoid robot designs are also utilizing tungsten, creating yet another new demand sector.

Investor Opportunities

Humanoid robots are the latest inventions that will increase demand on dwindling global tungsten supplies.

For investors with an interest in tungsten, there are a handful of public companies to research. One in particular is Almonty Industries (NASDAQ: ALM). Based in Montana, Almonty is one of the largest producers of tungsten outside of China. Scheduled to join the Russell 1000 and Russell 3000 indexes in June, Almonty sources tungsten from its mines in Spain, Portugal, and South Korea. It recently reopened the Korean Sangdong Mine, which had operated for 40 years previously, and boasts one of the largest tungsten reserves in the world. Sangdong alone has the potential to supply as much as 50% of global ex-China tungsten supply.

From an ETF perspective, VanEck Rare Earth and Strategic Metals ETF has 4.04% of its portfolio dedicated to Almonty stock. iShares S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index ETF is the only other ETF with Almonty stock, with 1.22% of its portfolio holdings.

It’s ironic that the more digital technologies and other breakthroughs are touted by the market news, the more crucial natural resources dating back to the dawn of time emerge in the picture in order for the vision to be realized. The future can’t happen without the past.

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About the Author John Seetoo →

After 15 years on Wall Street with 7 of them as Director of Corporate and Municipal Bond Trading for a NYSE member firm, I started my own project and corporate finance consultancy. Much of the work involves writing business plans, presentations, white papers and marketing materials for companies seeking budgetary allocations for spinoffs and new initiatives or for raising capital for expansion or startup companies and entrepreneurs. On financial topics, I have been published under my own byline at The Motley Fool, 247wallst.com, DealFlow Events’ Healthcare Services Investment Newsletter and The Microcap Newsletter, among others. Additionally, I have done freelance ghostwriting writing and editing for several financial websites, such as Seeking Alpha and Shmoop Financial. I have also written and been published on a variety of other topics from music, audiophile sound and film to musical instrument history, martial arts, and current events. Publications include Copper Magazine, Fidelity (Germany), Blasting News, Inside Kung-Fu, and other periodicals.