U.S. Deploys Pentagon AI to Control Germanium, Gallium, Antimony, and Tungsten Pricing
How a Pentagon algorithm and a proposed 50-nation tariff alliance aim to bypass traditional commodity markets and secure America's heavy metal supply chain.
Forget everything you know about how global commodities are priced. The Trump administration is bringing military-grade artificial intelligence to the metals market, effectively telling traditional supply-and-demand mechanics to take a back seat. According to recent February 2026 reports, the White House is preparing to deploy a Pentagon-developed AI system to establish reference prices for a highly strategic basket of critical minerals: germanium, gallium, antimony, and tungsten.
The engine behind this ambitious overhaul is the Department of Defense’s OPEN program, which stands for Open Price Exploration for National Security. Launched by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in 2023, the OPEN AI model isn't interested in the current market price of a metal. Instead, it calculates what a mineral should cost by factoring in the realities of labor, processing, and raw inputs. The objective is to entirely strip out the market-distorting effects of foreign dumping, specifically from China, which has historically produced these critical materials at a massive loss to bankrupt Western competitors.

