Indium is one of the metals you never see but use constantly. As indium tin oxide, it forms the transparent conductive coating on nearly every LCD and touchscreen, and that single application still accounts for most global consumption, according to the USGS. But the metal's role is broadening. Its compounds now sit inside the high-speed optical chips that route data through AI data centers, a shift that has turned a quiet, display-driven material into one buyers watch closely, especially as China refines about 70% of it and has begun tightening the flow.