The chemicals watchdog ChemSec has warned that leading manufacturers of Pfas, or "forever chemicals," are planning to significantly ramp up production to meet booming demand from the AI industry, despite well-documented health risks including links to cancer. The chemicals are prized for their role in semiconductor manufacturing and in advanced datacentre cooling systems, but campaigners say the expansion threatens to undermine emerging efforts to restrict Pfas use across Europe, the UK and parts of the US, since the substances never break down in the environment.

A ChemSec survey of the world's 10 largest Pfas producers found nearly all had expansion plans across sites in Europe, Asia and North America, driven by demand for "eco-friendly" cooling and semiconductor fabrication. Companies including Daikin, Arkema, Chemours, AGC, Dongyue and Gujarat Fluorochemicals cited datacentres and AI hardware as growth drivers, with Arkema investing $60m in a new US production unit and Chemours promoting "liquid cooling solutions" despite recently being ordered to pay $450m over a Pfas pollution lawsuit. Only Archroma and BASF, which plans to exit Pfas production by 2028, bucked the trend, while batteries for EVs and electronics were also flagged as a parallel growth area for the chemicals.