Investigate
Open-source intelligence, applied to critical-material supply chains — who produces, who processes, who controls, and where the chokepoints actually sit.
Everything digital is physical first.
The century's defining technologies rest on a thin layer of scarce materials, concentrated in few hands. We map the material supply chains behind strategic technologies.
The stakes
From data centers to robotics, trillions of dollars of technology rests on the supply of minerals most investors cannot name.
Every AI model runs on light. Light runs on indium phosphide. Behind it: gallium, germanium, antimony, rare earths — small markets carrying enormous weight, drawn on by the largest infrastructure buildout in history.
The gap
Demand arrived decades ahead of supply.
Production concentrated in few countries, fewer companies — and increasingly governed by export regimes rather than markets. The most important materials in the world are the ones nobody covers.
That gap is where we work.
Factories can be built elsewhere. Mineral deposits cannot be moved.
What we do
Trace
Foreign-language research at the source: regulatory filings, disclosure systems, and policy documents in Mandarin, Japanese, and beyond — read in the original, not the translation.
Monitor
Supply chains move before markets do. We track the signals — disclosures, permits, shipments, capacity — and publish what they mean.
Deep-dive
Bespoke research, on demand — commissioned investigations into a specific material, company, or chokepoint, built to the same standard as everything we publish.
Where we start
Indium phosphide.
Recovered as a byproduct of zinc refining, it is grown into epitaxial wafers and finished into the lasers and photonic circuits the buildout depends on. Supply that cannot easily scale, set against demand that will not stop — one of the defining supply–demand equations of the decade.
Who we work with
Institutional investorsFamily officesPrivate equityDiligence & law firmsSemiconductor & photonics operatorsDefense & policy teams
Get in touch
Tell us what you're trying to see.
We work with a small number of investors, operators, advisers, and policy teams at a time. If indium phosphide — or the material layer under something else you are watching — is on your desk, write to us. We read every note ourselves.
Prefer email? research@indigolinepartners.com
Or follow the research on our Substack.