Chipmaking ‘growing strongly’ to drive spec gas demand
The worldwide semiconductor market is strongly placed right now, and set to outperform global growth by a factor of two in the years ahead, driving greater need for the specialty gases needed in electronics production. That’s despite the current uncertainty triggered by the global trade wars initiated by US President Donald Trump. Chip revenues should grow at about 6% per year on average over the next four years.
The assessment was made by Lita Shon-Roy, CEO and founder of electronics materials advisory TechCET, presenting to delegates at the Specialty Gas Summit 2025 in Utrecht.
Beyond the headline growth projections, the automotive industry remains an especially solid market for chip growth, with compound annual growth in this space in the years ahead set to be above 12%.
Chipmaking capability around the world is in flux, with big investments being made in the US and in Europe in an effort to shift the balance of production away from Asia, though it still dominates today. Fab expansion investments being made now total more than $850bn for the period 2024 to 2029.
Leading drivers of the next phase of growth include artificial intelligence, which is now being used widely by consumers and in industry, putting extra demand on compute and driving the need for more complex chips.
