SemiAnalysis: Bottlenecks in AI semiconductor construction may extend to key materials such as tungsten

```htmlJinse Finance reported that on June 30, the independent semiconductor and AI research institution SemiAnalysis published an article stating that one of the most underestimated ways to participate in AI semiconductor development might not be the chip itself, but the materials. As the industry accelerates production of more advanced semiconductors, demand is growing not only for GPUs and wafer fabrication equipment, but also for the key materials that support modern chip manufacturing. Taking tungsten as an example, tungsten is one of the most critical materials in semiconductor manufacturing, valued for its high-temperature stability and resistance to electrical wear. Wafer fabs rely on chemical vapor deposition to fill deep, high aspect ratio vertical vias connecting multi-layer chip architectures, and use physical vapor deposition to deposit ultra-thin barrier layers around these structures. Since tungsten is involved in both core deposition processes, it is irreplaceable in advanced chip production. Tungsten supply appears to be increasingly constrained. High-purity tungsten metal powder is the primary raw material for producing tungsten hexafluoride, a gas used in chemical vapor deposition. Japan has key tungsten hexafluoride suppliers like SK Materials and Shin-Etsu Chemical, but is facing sharp price increases and significant reductions in tungsten raw material imports, making it nearly impossible to continue producing critical tungsten hexafluoride materials. The price pressure is also reflected in the import prices of tungsten hexafluoride in South Korea, which have increased by 151% this year. As semiconductor complexity and AI demand rise, bottlenecks may not only appear in chips or equipment, but also in critical materials at the bottom of the entire supply chain.```