Tiny microchips depend on a specific type of crude oil
The world's most advanced artificial intelligence relies on a rare liquid byproduct refined from Middle Eastern crude oil to etch circuits with atomic precision.
To create a microchip with features just 2 nanometers wide, engineers must coat silicon wafers in a specialized light-sensitive resin called photoresist. This critical substance is derived from a specific fraction of crude oil known as naphtha. Japan currently controls more than 90 percent of the high-end photoresist market, yet their entire production line depends on a steady supply of oil from the Middle East. At specialized refineries, this oil is cracked at 800 degrees Celsius to harvest the exact hydrocarbon molecules needed to build these chemical coatings.