China: AI drives demand for iridium in China.

【Voice_over】 Even though prices of most platinum-group metals have slumped this year in China, the rapid expansion of the country's AI industry is fueling a sharp rally in iridium prices. Iridium is a dense, corrosion-resistant metal and one of the few materials that's stable at extreme temperatures with a melting point exceeding 2,400 degrees Celsius. In northwest China's Shaanxi Province, a company is busy churning out iridium crucibles, which are primarily used to grow high-purity crystals for optic communications. A small, bowl-shaped iridium crucible weighing one kilogram is worth about two million yuan, or 300,000 U.S. dollars. 【Sound_bite】 Zhou Likuan, General Manager, Shaanxi Sanyee Youyan Material Technology Co., Ltd.: "Iridium prices are still relatively high – 2,000 yuan per gram, far above the price of gold. Our order volume has increased significantly this year. We've already processed as much in the first half as we did in all of last year. This small crucible accounts for a quarter of our total processing volume." 【Sound_bite】 Wang Dan, Marketing head, Shaanxi Sanyee Youyan Material Technology Co., Ltd.: "Iridium crucibles are used in lasers, semiconductors, medical equipment and communications. We've seen a small-scale surge in medical and optical communications demand. This year, clients from optical communications have increased, mainly driven by AI development." 【Voice_over】 According to data from Johnson Matthey, the price of iridium has surged more than 70 percent from over 4,500 U.S. dollars per troy ounce at the end of last year to more than 7,800 as of Aug 4. [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]