Producer
Umicore NV/SA
Umicore N.V. (Brussels; Euronext: UMI; ~$4B revenue) is a global specialty materials and recycling company whose Hoboken, Belgium precious metals refinery is a major European indium producer. Umicore recovers indium from complex lead/copper metallurgical residues and dusts at its Hoboken smelter near Antwerp — a unique secondary-metallurgy process that differs from the primary zinc-smelter byproduct route used by most producers. Umicore's indium capacity is ~50 tonnes/year, representing ~3% of global output and making Belgium a meaningful EU indium source. Umicore is also the world's leading recycler of battery materials (cobalt, lithium) and catalysts; indium recovery at Hoboken is one component of a broader complex metals recovery operation. Umicore's Hoboken plant is one of the most technically sophisticated non-ferrous secondary smelters in the world.
9
Inputs supplied
5
Goods downstream
8
Facilities
0
Stories
What they make
9 inputs Umicore NV/SA supplies
Click an input to see every good that depends on it, every country that produces it, and every other company in the supply chain.
manufactured
Spent Autocatalysts (Secondary PGM Feedstock) →
manufactured
Cathode active material (NMC/LFP/NCA) →
chemical
Germanium Tetrachloride (GeCl4) →
mineral
Germanium Metal (Semiconductor Grade) →
chemical
Cobalt Sulfate (Battery Grade) →
mineral
Selenium Metal (Electronics / Glass / Photovoltaics) →
chemical
Nickel Sulfate (Battery Grade) →
chemical
Germanium Tetrachloride (GeCl4) →
mineral
Indium Metal (ITO for Displays + Semiconductors) →
Where it shows up
Goods downstream
Essential goods that depend on something Umicore NV/SA makes — pick one to see the full supply chain.
Where they make it
8 facilities
Umicore Battery Materials Cheonan →
KRSouth Chungcheong · manufacturing
Primary NMC cathode active material production for Korean cell makers (Samsung SDI, SK On); ~60,000 t/yr CAM capacity.
Umicore Hoboken Precious Metals Refinery →
BEHoboken, Antwerp Province · processing
Umicore's Hoboken precious metals refinery near Antwerp — one of the world's most complex secondary smelters, processing lead/copper ores, recycled batteries, spent catalysts, and industrial residues to recover 17+ elements including gold, silver, platinum group metals, selenium, tellurium, and indium. Indium capacity ~50 tonnes/year recovered from complex lead/copper metallurgical dusts. Belgium accounts for ~3% of global indium output, primarily from this facility. Hoboken is an EU critical minerals anchor asset. Source: SCRREEN EU Critical Raw Materials Factsheet 2020; Umicore.
Umicore Hoboken Refinery →
BEAntwerp · manufacturing
World's largest precious and specialty metals recycling and refining complex; key cobalt sulfate and precursor production for European battery supply chain.
Umicore Kokkola Cobalt Refinery (Finland) →
FICentral Ostrobothnia · refinery
Umicore Kokkola (formerly Freeport Cobalt Oy, acquired by Umicore in 2022 for ~$550M) in Kokkola, Central Ostrobothnia, Finland — the largest cobalt refinery in Europe and the primary non-Chinese cobalt sulfate source for European EV battery manufacturers. Produces cobalt sulfate, cobalt powder, and cobalt salts from primary (DRC hydroxide) and secondary (battery recycling) feedstocks. Kokkola's location on Finland's west coast gives it port access for cobalt hydroxide imports from DRC via Antwerp. Capacity: ~10,000-12,000 tonnes cobalt content/year. Source: https://www.umicore.com/en/media/press/2022/umicore-completes-acquisition-of-freeport-cobalt/
Umicore Olen Cobalt Chemicals (Belgium) →
BEAntwerp Province · refinery
Umicore's historic Olen, Belgium facility — Umicore's founding cobalt chemicals site, producing cobalt sulfate, cobalt oxalate, and specialty cobalt compounds from recycled battery black mass and primary cobalt hydroxide. Olen is also Umicore's battery recycling hub, processing end-of-life EV batteries to recover cobalt, nickel, lithium, and manganese. The 'Battery Recycling Campus' at Olen integrates hydromet recycling with cobalt chemical production — making Olen a circular-economy cobalt sulfate source. Source: https://www.umicore.com/en/about/our-sites/olen/
Umicore Olen Nickel-Cobalt Refinery →
BEAntwerp Province · processing
Umicore's Olen smelter and refinery in Olen, Antwerp Province, Belgium — one of the world's largest nickel-cobalt refineries outside China. Processes Class 1 nickel (historically from Nornickel, now diversifying) into battery-grade nickel sulfate and metal. Also handles cobalt refining and battery material recycling. As the primary Western European battery-grade nickel sulfate producer, Olen is critical for European EV supply chain independence from China. Umicore announced restructuring of battery materials in 2024 amid low nickel/cobalt prices. Source: Umicore Annual Reports; European Battery Alliance sourcing reports.
Umicore – Olen EOM Refinery (Belgium) →
BEAntwerp Province
Umicore's primary germanium refining and GeCl4 production site; headquarters of the Electro-Optic Materials (EOM) division at Watertorenstraat 33, Olen, Belgium. Produces three purity grades of fiber-grade GeCl4 (O-H ≤0.12–0.2 ppm; metallic impurities <10 ppb total). Sources >50% of germanium from recycled streams (fiber optic production scrap, solar, IR). Primary supplier for Prysmian Group under long-term agreement. EU Critical Raw Materials Act-selected site for germanium recovery process innovation.
Umicore – Quapaw, Oklahoma Plant (US) →
USOklahoma
40,000 sq ft Umicore germanium production facility in Quapaw, Ottawa County, Oklahoma (near the historic Tri-State mining district). Opened October 2010. Produces GeCl4, Ge metal, and GASIR chalcogenide glass IR lenses for US defense/infrared market. Key US domestic source of GeCl4 after China's December 2024 export ban made Chinese supply unavailable. Also recycles germanium from local scrap streams.
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map — where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Catalysis (Automotive + Industrial)
35%Energy & Surface Technologies (Battery)
30%Precious Metals Management
25%Specialty Materials (Germanium, Electronics)
10%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains — chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2024
Umicore is simultaneously the world's largest non-Chinese GeCl4 producer for fiber optics AND one of the world's largest manufacturers of lithium-ion battery cathode materials (NMC/NCA) for electric vehicles. The same company that keeps the internet running (through fiber optic GeCl4) also enables EV batteries — two completely separate critical technology supply chains converging in one Belgian company headquartered in Olen. Most people in either industry don't know Umicore does both.
Umicore ↗Origin2023
Umicore SA/NV was formed in 1989 from the reorganization of Union Minière SA — a Belgian mining and metals conglomerate whose predecessor, Union Minière du Haut Katanga, was founded in 1906 as the mining arm of Belgian colonial rule in the Congo Free State. Union Minière du Haut Katanga operated the Shinkolobwe uranium mine in Belgian Congo — and in 1942-1945 supplied the United States with approximately 1,200 metric tons of uranium oxide that became the fissile material for the Manhattan Project's atomic bombs, including the Little Boy bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The decision to supply US atomic weapons was made by Union Minière's director Edgar Sengier, who had proactively moved uranium stockpiles to Staten Island, New York in 1940 anticipating that Germany would otherwise seize it from Belgium. The Manhattan Project could not have succeeded without Union Minière Congo uranium. The Belgian colonial mining company that supplied uranium for the first nuclear weapons has transformed through Union Minière (cobalt, copper, PGMs) into Umicore — now one of the world's leading battery material and automotive catalyst companies. The corporate lineage runs from the atomic bomb to the EV battery.
Umicore SA/NV ↗