The crackdown on risky chemicals that could derail the chip industry

By Cheng Ting-Fang | Financial Times | May 22, 2023

Read the full article by Cheng Ting-Fang (Financial Times)

"When Mark Newman walked into the lobby of a Tokyo hotel for a customer conference late last year, the chief executive of the US chemical giant Chemours had the rare experience of being mobbed.

“I felt like I was a rock star,” Newman recalls. “I was swarmed by people saying: we need more.”

The “more” in question is a class of chemicals known as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), critical to the production of everything from smartphones and firefighters’ suits to aircraft and electric vehicles — but especially to microchips. Anyone trying to secure supply for this year was going to be disappointed. One key PFAS, Newman says, “was completely sold out”."