Why the AI Boom Is Also a Chemistry Boom: Inside the Ultra-High-Purity Electronic Chemicals Supply Chain Behind HBM, CoWoS, and Electronic-Grade HF

An AI chip isn't just bigger than an ordinary chip — it passes through more lithography, etch, clean, and polish cycles, each consuming ultra-high-purity photoresist, CMP slurry, electronic-grade HF, sulfuric acid, and PGMEA at parts-per-trillion purity. A fact-based map of why this supply chain is short, hard to switch suppliers on, and now visibly tightening.