New Delhi, Oct. 29 -- Ajai Chowdhry, Co-Founder of HCL and Chairman of the National Quantum Mission, has warned that China's dominance over rare earth elements poses a serious strategic risk to global manufacturing, including India's ambitions in electric vehicles (EVs) and advanced technologies.

Speaking to ANI, Chowdhry highlighted how China has systematically gained control over critical minerals over the past decade and a half.

"Rare earths are absolutely essential for many, many products. EVs, for example, and batteries, all these products use rare earth. What China did in the last 10 or 15 years: they started sourcing from all over the world and bought over the mines. So today, 90% of the world's rare earths are controlled by them...