China’s February 2025 tungsten export controls—combined with explosive AI chip demand—are disrupting global supplies of tungsten hexafluoride (WF6), a critical electronic specialty gas. Japanese producers Kanto Denka and Central Glass have depleted inventories and warn of unsustainable supply through late 2026. Prices for 6N-purity WF6 surged to $2.5 million/ton by June 2026. Chinese firms like CSIC Special Gases are scaling capacity to 3,000 tons/year by 2027, while the global ESG market is projected to grow from $5.1 billion in 2025 to $6.9 billion by 2032. Major HBM makers Samsung and SK Hynix face immediate supply chain strain.
According to www.bitget.com, China’s export restrictions on high-purity tungsten—implemented in February 2025—and surging demand for AI chips are jointly straining global supplies of electronic specialty gases (ESG), particularly tungsten hexafluoride (WF6), with market prices soaring to $2.5 million per ton for 6N-grade material by end-June 2026.
AI chip fabrication drives exponential ESG consumption
Electronic specialty gases now account for approximately 13% of materials used in wafer fabrication—second only to silicon wafers—according to an in-depth report by Nanda Optoelectronics. The AI-driven shift is not merely about higher chip volumes but also radically increased gas usage per wafer: etch processes per wafer rose from roughly 20 at the 65nm node to approximately 140 at the 7nm node, widely used in AI accelerators. Deep etch processes for through-silicon vias (TSVs) in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) rely heavily on sulfur hexafluoride and octafluorocyclobutane—gases whose demand grows with the rising number of 3D NAND layers in AI storage hardware.
TrendForce forecasts global foundry revenue will reach $218.8 billion in 2026—a 24.8% year-over-year increase—while capital expenditures by the eight largest cloud service providers are projected to climb 61% year-on-year, and global AI server shipments are expected to rise 28%, per the CICC report published June 26, 2026.
Chinese tungsten export curbs disrupt Japanese WF6 supply
In February 2025, Beijing imposed license requirements for exports of tungsten and four other metals—a move framed as a response to U.S. tariffs and aimed at safeguarding national security, as reported by Reuters. The downstream impact hit Japanese WF6 producers disproportionately: Kanto Denka and Central Glass notified South Korean customers they had exhausted inventory and would likely fail to sustain supply through the second half of 2026. Japan accounts for 24% of global WF6 production, and few Western alternatives exist—Reuters notes the U.S. ceased tungsten mining in 2015 and has not produced refined bismuth since 1997.
Chinese producers scale WF6 capacity to fill gap
CSIC Special Gases currently operates 2,000 tons per year of WF6 capacity and plans to add 1,000 tons by 2027, positioning it as the world’s largest producer, according to the CICC report. Meanwhile, HaoHua and Zhongju Core each hold 600 tons of annual capacity, and Heyuan Gas intends to begin trial production from its own 600-ton facility this year. Price data confirms the supply shock: China’s General Administration of Customs shows average WF6 export prices exceeded RMB 950,000 per ton between January and May 2026; by end-June, 6N-purity WF6 was quoted at RMB 2 million to $2.5 million per ton.
Strategic bottleneck emerges in semiconductor gas supply
The global ESG market stood at approximately $5.1 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $6.9 billion by 2032, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.4%, per Persistence Market Research. Asia Pacific consumes 69% of all ESG—driven by semiconductor manufacturing hubs in China, Taiwan, and South Korea. Though Linde, Air Liquide, Air Products, and Nippon Sanso still control over 70% of the global electronic gases market, local sourcing of ESG for IC manufacturing in China has risen to 25% and continues climbing—creating a rare opportunity for Chinese producers to gain both volume and price leverage simultaneously.
Major HBM producers Samsung and SK Hynix now face supply disruptions after relying almost exclusively on Japanese WF6. As hyperscalers and their funded chipmakers reassess fab ramp schedules in South Korea and elsewhere, qualification timelines, purity certification standards, and the speed of developing non-Chinese tungsten sources will determine whether this new dependency proves viable—or introduces a critical vulnerability in AI hardware production.
Source: bitget.com
Compiled from international media by the SCI.AI editorial team.
