If the war in Iran and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz have shown anything, it's how vulnerable the just-in-time global supply chains are to disruption — especially high-tech chip manufacturing. Now there's a new concern on the horizon, with new reports suggesting that rising prices for anhydrous hydrogen fluoride for South Korean chip firms could cause a new spike in memory and storage prices.

Used in the etching and cleaning steps to remove oxide films and metal contaminants from wafers, anhydrous hydrogen fluoride is derived from fluorite and sulfuric acid, the latter of which is primarily produced from sulfur, a byproduct produced when refining crude oil and natural gas. The war in Iran has reduced critical supplies and refining capacity for those key materials, and sulfur supplies have also suffered; the knock-on effect is set to reach South Korean chip firms once again, The Elec reports.