Signal Critical mineral demand grew strongly in 2024 as clean and advanced technologies spread

Summary

KISTEP reports that the spread of clean energy and advanced technologies, including electric vehicles, energy storage and semiconductors, pushed demand for critical minerals up at a high rate in 2024. Citing the International Energy Agency, it expects demand and markets for these minerals to keep expanding as the technologies diffuse further. Reserves and production are concentrated in a few countries, and substitutes are hard to secure. Competition among major importing countries to lock in supplies is therefore intensifying. The report uses these conditions to frame the case for a full-cycle R&D response in Korea, a manufacturing economy that relies on imported minerals.