Electronic Grade Sulfuric Acid Market - Forecasts from 2024 to 2029

The electronic grade sulfuric acid market is anticipated to have a growth rate of 6.55% at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during the forecast period (2024-2029).
Electronic grade sulfuric acid is a corrosive acid, and soluble in water. Sulfuric Acid, commonly known as battery acid, is one of the staple products in the chemical industry due to its application of raw materials for many chemicals. It is also used as an intermediary in many chemical processes.

The electronic grade sulfuric acid has the highest purity, approximately 96% of the purity. High purity is necessary for the electronic grade sulfuric acid, as impurities in the solution could damage the circuits, semiconductors, etc., in the cleaning and etching processes. One of the applications of electronic-grade sulfuric acid is in the semiconductor industry. As the demand for semiconductor applications increases, the relative demand for electronic-grade sulfuric acid will also increase.

The semiconductor is used in medical devices, communications, computing, defense and aerospace, transportation and infrastructure, energy, and technologies of the future, such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and advanced wireless networks. According to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS), semiconductor industry sales were $556 billion in 2023 and are expected to increase to $602 billion in 2024. This expansion with the electronic industries for the application of modern devices would relatively increase the electronic-grade sulfuric acid as a major ingredient.

Furthermore, the increase in the renewable energy sector with the demand for solar energy would drive the demand for electronic-grade sulfuric acid. The solar energy sector now accounts for 4.5% of total global electricity generation. This is likely to increase because of government policies, regulations, and incentives.

India is making significant strides in the renewable energy segment, combining solar, wind, hydrogen, etc. India attracted investment of US$15.5 billion for solar PV projects. An Interim Budget of US$1.02 billion has been allocated to solar power grid infrastructure development in the fiscal 2024-2025.

ELECTRONIC GRADE SULFURIC ACID MARKET DRIVERS:

Growing demand from the semiconductor industry

The semiconductor industry is a critical industry worldwide with transformative applications in many aspects of innovative machines. The growth of semiconductors is imminent as the different governments worldwide provide incentives and policies for semiconductor development. For instance, the CHIPS and Science Act by the United States government gives research investments and manufacturing incentives to the semiconductor industries in the country. Semiconductor technology is developing to deliver more advanced products and process technologies for memory, logic, analog, and MPU.

With global demand for semiconductors, the increase in research and development of semiconductors is leading to the establishment of new plants and facilities for semiconductors. Thus, the relative demand for electronic-grade sulfuric acid would increase. This acid removes the finest impurities on the surface of wafer chips during cleaning and semiconductor manufacturing. The essential application of electronic-grade sulfuric acid would increase its demand for the growing semiconductor manufacturing industry. Asia Pacific countries (China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan) and the United States have been the largest players in the semiconductor market, having a global share of about 91%, according to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS).

Expanding demand in the electronic industry:

The electronic industry worldwide has been on the rise due to internet penetration. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in 2023, nearly ?67% of the world’s population, or 5.4 billion people, had access to the Internet. This figure shows rise of 3.92% from 2021 to 2022 and 5.88% from 2022 to 2023. Access to the internet is only possible through electronic devices, and the rise in the demand for electronic devices has led to industry supply chain challenges to meet their demand. The manufacturing of electronic devices needs sophisticated technological applications and raw materials such as electronic-grade sulfuric acid.

Two-stage leaching of printed circuit boards (PCBs) requires sulfuric and nitric acid. Printed Circuit boards (PCBs) are becoming crucial in electrical and electronic equipment such as TV sets, computers, printers, mobile phones, liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors, and laptops. The use of mobile phones has been rising; in 2023, about 78% of the total population worldwide owned a mobile phone. This growth in the use of mobile telephones has increased demand for electronic-grade sulfuric acid for manufacturing.

Rise in the solar energy sector

The solar energy sector has become the core of renewable energy sources for the world, especially in tropical regions with sunlight. In 2022, Solar PV generation has increased by 26% from the previous year, adding 270?TWh of power to global energy production. The subsequent demand for solar energy power is due to the need for the manufacturing process to bring net carbon emission to zero, according to climate change factors. Solar energy is the largest renewable energy sector that contributes to energy production. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the progressive increase of Solar PV is anticipated to be 10.10% from 2025 to 2026, 9.87% from 2026 to 2027, and 10.43% from 2027 to 2028. This significant growth rate indicates the growing demand for photovoltaic wafers for energy capture of the sunlight.

Chemical cleaning is necessary in solar cell fabrication to prevent equipment contamination. The uncleaned wafers can be problematic when diffused in the wafers, especially in terms of overall performance. The overall hydrophobicity of the silicon wafer can be improved by completely dehydrating the oxidation film on the silicon wafer. The growing number of utility plants, improved production capacity, innovation for efficient designs, policy interventions, and investments, among others, led to the scaling up of the solar energy power sector.

The Asia Pacific region will dominate the electronic grade of sulfuric acid during the forecast period.

Leading large economies of the world are located in the region, such as China, Japan, India, and South Korea. These countries are part of G20. The fastest-growing economies are also present in this region. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Asia and the Pacific has a GDP growth rate of 4.4 %, including South Asia having 6.3% and Southeast Asia having a growth rate of 4.6% in 2023. This high growth rate can be seen in the industrial sector as well. The region is becoming a major supplier of raw materials and finished goods worldwide.

Moreover, China contributed 38% of solar PV generation growth in 2022. China is the leading country in terms of solar PV capacity additions with 100 GW added in 2022. Another leading player is India, which allocated a substantial outlay of US$2.9 billion for the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for the photovoltaic cells and integrated around the capacity of 8,737 MW. Further, India established 11 solar parks with a capacity of 8,521 MW across different states.

Additionally, the semiconductor industry's growth is another factor leading to the growth of electronic-grade sulfuric acid. China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan held 43% of the market share for the semiconductor industry in 2022, according to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS). Above all growing economies of India and China have been the largest consumers of electronics goods and technologies.

Electronic grade sulfuric acid restraints:

The major challenge for electronic-grade sulfuric acid is its high manufacturing cost to gain the expected purity grade. This makes it difficult for companies to handle the process, and expertise is needed to handle it. The cost of expertise and related high-cost manufacturing technology makes the electronic-grade sulfuric acid a difficult process to procure.

Additionally, the certification, regulation, and quality standards are necessary for the processing of sulfuric acid.

Electronic grade sulfuric acid Key Developments:

• In September 2023, MYCON General Contractors, Inc. (MYCON) initiated the construction of electronic-grade sulfuric acid (ELSA) manufacturing. It is a 4.5-acre project facility site located in Plainview, Texas. This project is in collaboration with Dongjin Semichem Co., Ltd, Samsung C&T America, Inc., and Martin Resource Management. The manufactured electronic-grade sulfuric acid is high-purity, supplied to key global semiconductor and electronic manufacturing facilities. ELSA facilities would be included with five pre-engineered metal buildings and a prefabricated guard shack.
• In May 2023, Entegris is one of the leading companies in advanced materials and process solutions for semiconductors, including sulfuric acid, isopropyl alcohol, ammonium hydroxide, hydrogen peroxide, hydrofluoric acid, nitric acid, phosphoric acid, hydrochloric acid, and other blends. The company announced the sale of the Entegris’ Electronic Chemicals business for $700 million to Fujifilm. This business division provides highly specialized chemicals to the semiconductor industry.
• In January 2023, ANDRITZ, a company that provides sustainable technology, automation, and service solutions, received the order from Suzano to deliver SulfoLoop concentrated sulfuric acid plant for its new pulp mill that is located in Ribas do Rio Pardo, Brazil. The plant can produce 153 tons of commercial grade (>97%) sulfuric acid per day. The mill would be completely self-sufficient in sulfuric acid and recycling sulfur from the waste streams. After completion, it would be the world’s largest plant with a single eucalyptus pulp production line.

The electronic grade sulfuric acid is segmented and analyzed as follows:

By Application

• Semiconductors
• PCB panels
• Photovoltaic
• Others

By Grade Type

• PPB (Parts Per Billion) Purity
• PPM (Parts Per Million) Purity

By Geography

• North America
• USA
• Canada
• Mexico
• South America
• Brazil
• Argentina
• Rest of South America
• Europe
• United Kingdom
• Germany
• France
• Italy
• Spain
• Rest of Europe
• Middle East and Africa
• Saudi Arabia
• UAE
• Rest of the Middle East and Africa
• Asia Pacific
• China
• India
• Japan
• South Korea
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• Indonesia
• Rest of Asia-Pacific