Direct:
The hydrofluoric acid that Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) and SK hynix (000660.KS) use to etch and clean wafers is about to get materially more expensive, and the trigger sits two layers down the chemical supply chain that memory coverage rarely tracks.
Korean specialty chemical makers, Soulbrain (357780.KQ), ENF Technology, and Foosung, import anhydrous hydrogen fluoride from China, dilute it with deionized water, and ship semiconductor-grade HF to the fabs. Anhydrous HF is made from fluorite and sulfuric acid. Sulfuric acid was roughly 30% of that production cost and is now reportedly above 50%, after the 2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis cut into global sulfur supply and Chinese sulfuric acid more than doubled to around 2,100 yuan per ton by mid-April. China then halted sulfuric acid exports effective May 1. Chinese anhydrous HF is up about 40% since January, and that increase is expected to reach Samsung and SK hynix contracts in the late June to July window.
Around 90% of the raw material these Korean suppliers run on comes from China. This is the same hydrogen fluoride that Japan restricted in its 2019 export curbs against Korea. Korea answered that by leaning heavily on Chinese supply, which shifted the concentration from Japan to China without reducing it. BGF EcoMaterials, through Fluorine Korea, is building a 50,000-ton-per-year anhydrous HF plant in Ulsan, roughly half of domestic demand, with mass production targeted for the fourth quarter. That capacity matters for 2027 but it does nothing for the summer increase.
None of this moves NAND or DRAM contract prices by itself. HF is a process consumable, well down the memory cost stack, and the bigger 2026 memory story is allocation and HBM. What it does is add one more upward cost onto an already tight, already rising memory market, and it shows how concentrated the chemical layer feeding both Samsung and SK hynix actually is. The specifics here trace to Korean trade reporting; the underlying Hormuz and sulfur shock is independently corroborated.
Drafted with AI assistance against parallel reporting.
Sources:
- DIGITIMES Asia, “Samsung, SK Hynix face chipmaking chemical squeeze as China feedstock costs surge” (May 19, 2026, paywalled stub: headline and lead only)
- The Elec, “Iran-Linked Supply Shock Hits South Korea's Hydrofluoric Acid Market” (May 2026)
- S&P Global Commodity Insights, sulfur and China sulfuric-acid export-ban coverage (March 2026)
- World Economic Forum, “Beyond oil: 9 commodities impacted by the Strait of Hormuz crisis” (April 2026)
- Wikipedia, “2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis” (accessed May 2026)
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