Electronic Grade Hydrofluoric Acid Market Trends

Growth Drivers:

• Massive growth in semiconductor manufacturing: A robust semiconductor manufacturing framework and infrastructure have become pivotal for a country’s economic competitiveness. The U.S. semiconductor sector has persistently remained a major contender, capturing 40-50% of global revenue. However, in the next five years, China plans to do 40% capacity additions to further consolidate the market. Booming semiconductor demand has prompted investments to surge chip production. Owing to the landmark CHIPS and Science Act, the U.S. is anticipated to capture a significant new private investment share in semiconductor production.
  
  As of August 2024, the key players operating in the semiconductor sector had announced over 90 new production projects in the United States. Approximately, USD 450 billion of investments are already made since CHIPS was first introduced in Congress across 28 states. These investments are estimated thousands of direct and additional jobs in the electronic grade hydrofluoric acid market.
• Rising adoption of renewable energy: Electronic grade hydrofluoric acid is frequently used to clean silicon wafers in photovoltaic cells. These are the primary component of silicon-based solar cells that use silicon as their basis to convert sunlight into electricity. For instance, by 2026, renewable energy sources will contribute over 92% of the increase in global power capacity; solar photovoltaics alone will account for more than half of this increase.

Challenge

• Fluctuations in the prices of raw materials: Calcium and fluorine combine to form the industrial mineral fluorite which is mined in more than 15 nations. Moreover, fluorite tends to shatter into tiny fragments after being mined, which makes it challenging to extract, and owing to stringent mining regulations and safety checks, the supply of fluorspar is expected to remain limited, which may hamper the electronic grade hydrofluoric acid market growth.