Via Reuters, this news:
Nov 5 (Reuters) - The artificial intelligence boom is helping drive demand for European chemical and industrial gas companies, as semiconductor manufacturers expand production capacity to meet surging demand for AI chips.
Belgian specialty chemicals company Syensqo beat third-quarter expectations on Thursday as demand from semiconductor manufacturers continued to support its materials business.
"We'll probably see a 25% second-half improvement in our sales in semiconductors over the first half," CEO Mike Radossich told journalists.
Industrial gas groups Linde and Air Liquide also reported forecast-beating third-quarter results last week, helped by double-digit sales growth in electronics businesses that supply semiconductor manufacturers.
AI demand has become the chip industry's main growth engine, driving a fresh wave of semiconductor investment as AI servers require far more silicon than traditional computing infrastructure.
Air Liquide said its electronics investments nearly doubled in the first nine months of 2026 compared with all of 2025 as it increased spending on projects tied to semiconductor manufacturing. In August, the company agreed to buy South Korea's DIG Airgas for 2.85 billion euros.
It honestly makes sense that the AI industry has been driving semiconductor manufacturer growth, but I guess I had not considered the impact on chemical manufacturers that work on electronics as well. I'm at least glad to see some good news for Europe's beleaguered chemical industry.
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looks like Blogger doesn't work with anonymous comments from Chrome browsers at the moment - works in Microsoft Edge, or from Chrome with a Blogger account - sorry! CJ 3/21/20