Wet Chemicals Market Expected to Reach $5.9 Billion by 2031—Allied Market Research

According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, “Wet Chemicals Market," The wet chemicals market was valued at $3.2 billion in 2021, and is estimated to reach $5.9 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 6.3% from 2022 to 2031.

Wet chemicals are commercial organic and inorganic chemicals used in various end-use industries. It acts as an etching and cleaning agent in the semiconductors processing systems. In addition, wet chemical-based acids, bases, solvent, oxidizer, and other chemicals form have a wide range of applications in agriculture, textile, electronics, and others.

Wet chemicals are commercial chemicals, including sulfuric acid, hydrogen peroxide, nitric acid, and others. Wet chemicals are extensively used in the semiconductor and electronics industry as etching and cleaning agent. In addition, it also finds application in agrochemicals, chemical, and industrial sectors. In addition, rising demand for various electronics components such as LCD, LED, gadgets, bulb, electronic devices, and others from the electronics industry is expected to surge the demand for wet chemicals. 

Factors such as growth in the electronics industry, urbanization, and surge in the production rate of electric vehicles have boosted the demand for wet chemicals. For instance, according to a report published by IEA in 2021, 370 electric car models were available in 2020 globally, with 40% increase from 2019, where solvent-based wet chemicals were used in the manufacturing process of lithium-ion batteries These factors enhance the overall demand for wet chemicals during the forecast period.

However, stringent government norms and regulation on certain wet chemicals have hampered the market growth. For instance, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen peroxide, sodium chloride, and other chemicals have harmful effect on human health and environment. These factors are expected to hamper the growth of the wet chemicals market during the forecast period.

Persulfate acts as one of the widely used oxidizing agents across the globe. It is an ideal cleaning agent and micro-etching agent for a wide variety of PCB substrates. These factors together increase the usage of persulfate-based wet chemicals. Furthermore, hydrogen peroxide is one of the main electronic wet chemicals used in the semiconductor industry. Super high purity grades of hydrogen peroxide from Technic Company are utilized in the etching of printed circuit sheets. Moreover, hydrogen peroxide and potassium nitrate find applications in the agriculture industry. It is mainly used to treat pathogenic microorganisms and indicator organisms. These factors are increasing the potential sales of wet chemicals; thus, offering most lucrative opportunities for the market.

The wet chemicals market is segmented on the basis of product type, application, and region. By product type, the market is segregated into acids, bases, solvents, oxidizers, and others. The acids segment dominated the global market in terms of revenue in 2021, with over 50% of the total share. Acid-based wet chemicals include acetic acid, hydrogen peroxide, sulphuric acid, nitric acid, phosphoric acid, hydrofluoric acid, and others.

Acid-based wet chemicals find application in semiconductors, electronics, IC packaging, and many other end-use industries. Furthermore, sulfuring acid is used as an oxidizing agent and cleaning agent in the fabrication and wet stripping of semiconductors, and manufacturing of printed circuit boards. Moreover, acid-based wet chemicals find diversified applications in various end-use industries, due to which manufacturers have put more emphasis on the production of acid-based wet chemicals.

By application, the market is segmented into semiconductor, etching, cleaning, IC packaging, PCB, and others. The semiconductor segment dominated the global market in terms of revenue in 2021, with over 38% of the total share. The recent commercialization of nano-based devices has boosted the market potential for etching chemicals. In response to this, the growing usage of semiconductors and integrated chips in the manufacturing of electrical components has driven the electronic wet chemicals market during the forecast period.

The rising demand for semiconductors in LCD and LED sets has escalated the demand for wet chemicals. For instance, according to an article published by IDC in June 2022, semiconductor revenue is expected to reach $661 billion in 2022 across the globe, with 13.7% year-over-year growth rate following strong 2021 results where revenues reached $582 billion. These factors are projected to enhance the demand for wet chemicals in the growing semiconductors industry.

Region-wise, the wet chemicals market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA. The Asia-Pacific wet chemicals market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. countries such as Japan and Taiwan are constantly engaged in expanding their electrical & automation manufacturing output. For instance, according to a report published by Hennessy Funds, Japan accounts for around 30% market for supplying factory automation products globally. Thus, it helps in production process of semiconductors in the Asia-Pacific region. The utilization of wet chemicals in sectors, such as semiconductors, electronics, IC packaging, and others are the major key market trends in the Asia-Pacific region. Proliferating demand for electronics products where wet chemicals are used as prime etching material fuels the market growth.

Key players operating in the global wet chemicals market include BASF SE, Chang Chun Group, Dow, Eastman Chemical Company, Evonik Industries, Formosa Daikin Advanced Chemicals Co. Ltd., Honeywell International Inc., Hubei Xingfa Chemicals Group Co. Ltd., Kanto Kagaku, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Rin Kagaku Kogyo Co. Ltd., Santoku Chemical Industries Co. Ltd., Solvay Inc., Yingpeng Chemical Co. Ltd., and Zhejiang Kaisn Fluorochemical Co. Ltd.

Key findings of the study:

• By product type, the acid segment is estimated to display the highest growth rate, in terms of revenue, registering a CAGR of 6.7% from 2022 to 2031.
• By application, the semiconductor application segment is estimated to display the highest growth rate, in terms of revenue, registering a CAGR of 6.8% from 2022 to 2031.
• Region-wise, Asia-Pacific garnered the highest share of 48% in 2021, in terms of revenue, growing at a CAGR of 6.5%.