Delivered by sector experts with deep hands-on knowledge, this is not a survey course. It is a rigorous, commercially focused deep-dive into the materials that matter most right now - examining value chains, manufacturing economics, market dynamics, and supply constraints.

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Why This Matters Now

AI infrastructure build-out is driving exponential demand for semiconductor process chemicals and rare earth-based components. The global energy transition is creating sustained demand for battery chemicals and critical minerals across EV and grid storage value chains. A marked shift in defence spending across NATO and Asia-Pacific is pulling high-performance polymers and specialty chemicals into the strategic procurement spotlight. At the same time, supply chains for many of these materials remain dangerously concentrated. Tariff escalation, export controls, and friend-shoring policies are redrawing trade flows and forcing producers, buyers, and investors to fundamentally reassess their strategies.

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Course Outline

Chemicals for PCB Manufacture and Display Materials
Semiconductor and display materials sit at the foundation of every AI system, data centre, and consumer electronics device.

• Industry overview: semiconductor and display materials market structure, key players, and demand drivers
• Semiconductor manufacturing and IC process chemicals - wafer substrates, photoresists and ancillaries, LCD and OLED materials, and process chemicals
• Manufacturing economics and market review - from specialty solvents such as PGME/PGMEA and ethyl lactate through to OLED building blocks
• Production economics, price formation, and margin structure

Chemicals for Lithium-Ion Batteries
Battery chemistry is evolving rapidly, and so are the commercial dynamics of the supply chains behind it.

• Battery industry overview: technology trends, manufacturing scale-up, and the competitive landscape
• Full value chain analysis - raw materials, intermediates, and finished components spanning packaging, metals, and polymers
• Market dynamics for key materials including lithium salts, electrolyte components (LiPF6 and specialty carbonates), graphite, carbon nanotubes, and PVDF
• Manufacturing processes, production economics, price benchmarks, and margin analysis

Critical Minerals for AI Development
Rare earths and critical minerals are at the epicentre of the US-China technology competition - and their supply chains are among the most strategically sensitive in the world.

• Rare earths industry overview - permanent magnets, catalysts, and their role in AI hardware and electrification
• Development challenges, ore sources, and processing complexity - including monazite and xenotime
• Rare earth separation and refining: where value is created and where supply is concentrated
• Market opportunities across AI, defence, and clean energy; manufacturing processes, production economics, and margin analysis

The Role of the Chemical Industry in Defense
Defence spending is rising globally and the materials requirements of modern defence systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated.

• Defence sector overview: key applications for high-performance materials in platforms, systems, and munitions
• Markets for advanced polymers and high-performance fibres - defence applications and growth outlook
• Chemical procurement in defence: qualification requirements, supply chain visibility, and the concept of 'line of sight'
• Critical chemical value chains, supply concentration risks, and key players in the defence chemicals sector

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What You Will Learn On This Course

A Value-Chain Playbook for High-Stakes Materials
Participants will leave this training course with a practical, analyst-grade framework to assess:

• Where demand is structurally accelerating - and which end-markets are most durable
• Which nodes in each value chain are strategically constrained, and why that matters commercially
• How manufacturing economics and product qualification processes drive margins and create barriers to entry
• What 'criticality' means in operational, commercial, and geopolitical terms - and how to build that into investment and procurement decisions

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Who Should Consider Attending This Course

• Specialty chemical and materials professionals in strategy, business development, procurement, R&, and operations
• Investors and commercial teams evaluating growth platforms in electronics materials, battery chemicals, critical minerals, and defence-oriented materials
• Policy, supply chain, and risk management professionals focused on supply chain resilience, localisation, and security of supply