GoKawiilIf the war in Iran and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz have shown anything, it's how vulnerable the just-in-time global supply chains are to disruption — especially high-tech chip manufacturing. Now there's a new concern on the horizon, with new reports suggesting that rising prices for anhydrous hydrogen fluoride for South Korean chip firms could cause a new spike in memory and storage prices.
Used in the etching and cleaning steps to remove oxide films and metal contaminants from wafers, anhydrous hydrogen fluoride is derived from fluorite and sulfuric acid, the latter of which is primarily produced from sulfur, a byproduct produced when refining crude oil and natural gas. The war in Iran has reduced critical supplies and refining capacity for those key materials, and sulfur supplies have also suffered; the knock-on effect is set to reach South Korean chip firms once again, The Elec reports.
China is the world's largest exporter of anhydrous hydrogen fluoride, but as sulfuric acid is also a key material in fertilizers, steelmaking, and battery cathode materials, it's now restricting its export, and prices have risen in turn. To date, the South Korean chemical market has absorbed these costs, but it now looks like by June or July, the memory makers will start to feel the shortages bite.
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Despite the U.S. war in Iran beginning in February, it's taken time for the domino effects of the subsequent clampdown on oil and gas refining and transportation to be felt; but the first smaller dominoes to fall began weeks ago.
At the beginning of April, Echemi reported that because of cost pressures, the price of anhydrous hydrogen fluoride in China had risen by around three percent in just the first week of the month. This was mostly driven by rising sulfuric acid costs, which jumped 27% week on week, caused by rising prices for sulfur.
There were already signs of slowing supply, though, with Echemi reporting some suppliers were projecting reduced output due to an inability to acquire raw materials. This, coupled with a shutdown of fluorite mines in the Zhejiang Province due to a mining accident, placed further pressure on the anhydrous hydrogen fluoride supply chain.
The Elec reports that China's response was to restrict exports, resulting in a mid-April price rise for hydrogen fluoride of as much as 130% over early-2026 levels, with sulfuric acid making up more than 50% of the overall production costs for the key material.
South Korean chemical companies Soulbrain, ENF Technology, and Foosung have started receiving these higher-priced orders of scarcer anhydrous hydrogen fluoride in mid-May. Before shipping them on to Samsung and SK Hynix, they'll mix it with ultrapure water and ammonium fluoride to create a high-quality etching material.
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