TOKYO - Itochu Corp. will launch a business in November to recover critical minerals from used smartphones and computers and resell the materials, sources close to the matter said Tuesday, as Japan seeks to strengthen domestic resource recycling.
The move comes amid growing concern about rare earth supplies due to China's export controls as well as rising demand for semiconductor materials amid rapid growth in artificial intelligence.
To launch the business, Itochu unit Belong Inc. and a major U.S. IT equipment recycler set up an equal-stakes joint venture in April. The venture will begin operating a recycling plant in November at Belong's operations center in Zama, southwest of Tokyo.
The plant will handle the entire process, from collecting used devices and wiping stored data to shredding and sorting them, with the recovered materials to be sold to materials manufacturers as raw materials.
Discarded electronic devices are often described as "urban mines" because they contain valuable metals that can be recovered and returned to the supply chain.
Japan's latest annual economic and fiscal policy guidelines, the first under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, call for greater recycling of critical minerals to help secure stable supplies.
Itochu established Belong in 2019. The company buys used smartphones from businesses and resells them through its Nicosuma online store to corporate customers in Japan and overseas.
The Japanese trading house expects rising handset prices to spur demand for used smartphones and device recycling. Apple Inc. recently raised iPhone prices in Japan.
