A veteran who has been in the automotive field for many years learned of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and immediately said to his peers: A new round of chip famine is coming again. Sure enough, just as Russia and Ukraine were negotiating, several car brands suspended some production, including BMW, Volkswagen, Mitsubishi and Renault.
On March 1, a Volkswagen production site in Wolfsburg, Germany, was shut down due to supply chain problems. On 2 March, Porsche's production plant in Leipzig, Germany, was suspended and 2,500 employees were put on standby. In addition, another mass production plant in Saxony, Germany, also suffered from a shortage of cables.
Netizens questioned why Russia and Ukraine, which are not well-known in the automotive industry and have extremely scarce technology accumulation, can affect global automobile production? This has to mention two important raw materials in automobile production, one is neon gas and the other is the rare metal palladium.
Magical neon
Neon gas is a tasteless, tasteless inert noble gas with the chemical formula Ne, which is not easy to burn at room temperature and does not assist combustion. Neon gas is widely used in daily life, and the gas filled with colored neon lights on the roadside is neon gas. Neon gas can also be used in the visual illumination indicator and voltage regulation.
Neon gas is an important material for light sources in chip manufacturing. In general, the shorter the wavelength of the light source, the finer the circuit engraved on the silicon by the lithography machine, the smaller the chip size, and the stronger the performance, which also leads to the extremely harsh requirements of the lithography machine on the light source.
Later, scientists found that the use of a mixture of noble gases can obtain a laser with a shorter wavelength and a stable wavelength, of which krypton-neon mixture, argon-neon-neon mixture, and argon-fluon-neon mixture are several of the most common lithography gases.
The well-known DUV deep ultraviolet lithography machine can sell for 2 billion yuan, and the laser it uses is ArF (argon fluoride), of which neon accounts for more than 96% of the total mixed gas, and its importance is self-evident!
Odessa is a seaside city that cannot be ignored in the production of neon gas and one of the busiest ports in Ukraine, where ICEBLICK International Group of Companies produces neon gas. Ukraine transports the neon gas produced to semiconductor companies in several countries, including China, South Korea, Japan, and the United States, and makes profits from it. The United States is Ukraine's largest customer, and about 90 percent of the neon gas comes from Ukraine.
Neon gas is produced in Ukraine, why is it still related to Russia? This is because Russia controls the raw materials used to produce neon gas. It turned out that neon gas was a by-product of the steel manufacturing process, mixed with a variety of gases, but the purification technology was in the hands of Ukrainian companies. Russia simply purifies the neon gas produced in the steel manufacturing industry, seals it in bottles and cans, and sells it to Ukraine. Ukraine then separates and purifies the gas mixture until the neon meets the semiconductor industry standards.
According to statistics, the production of neon gas in Russia and Ukraine accounts for more than 50% of the world, and it is no exaggeration to say that Russia and Ukraine have slightly picked up the pick, and the price of neon gas has soared immediately. In 2014, the Crimean incident broke out, the United States led by the Western countries imposed economic sanctions on Russia, one of the direct consequences is that the price of neon gas soared by 600%, and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict may have a greater impact on the production of neon gas, and the price is not strange!
Since the sharp contradictions between Russia and Ukraine, the price of neon gas has been eager to move, and after a thorough intensification, the price has immediately risen. According to the data, on February 23, the price of neon gas in the mainland market reached 1650 yuan / cubic meter, up 65% from the beginning of the year, and 4 times higher than the lowest point in October 2021, resulting in neon downstream enterprises seeing bad trends and starting to act early. Chipmakers in Japan, the Netherlands and South Korea are developing new alternatives while reducing their use. The most nervous is the United States, which has set off a new round of sweeping goods around the world.
In addition to neon gas, Ukraine's krypton and xenon production accounts for 40% and 30% of the world's total, and industries related to these two gases may also usher in a price increase.
Not simple metal palladium
Palladium is one of the fifth-cycle VIII. platinum-based elements with the chemical formula Pd; silvery-white, metallic; soft texture, good ductility and plasticity, which can be forged, calendered and brushed. As a rare metal on the earth, palladium reserves are scarce, only Russia and Brazil have higher reserves, of which Russia's palladium production reaches 40% of the world, and the supply in the semiconductor industry chain is in short supply.
In semiconductor manufacturing, palladium is a key fabrication material for memory NAND Flash and sensors, as well as plating material for some packaging technologies. To avoid oxidation of the copper wire, a layer of metal palladium is applied when the copper wire is bonded, thereby prolonging the service life.
The United States with a group of little brothers and russia to impose economic sanctions, metal palladium is naturally in the sanctions list, Brazil and other countries are taking the opportunity to increase prices, resulting in the entire chip, sensor industry price increase; if metal palladium is not in the sanctions list, Russia may use the almost monopoly position to raise prices, Brazil and other countries may also follow out of interest considerations, resulting in chip price increases.
It should be pointed out that 35% of the palladium materials needed by the United States come from Russia, so sanctions are sometimes a double-edged sword, harming others and suffering themselves.
Original: Blog post