Since its inception around a century ago, the chemical industry has focused on the manufacture of commodities. A commodity chemical, produced at over 1000 tons per year, is sold into a world market where the products are differentiated only by price. Benzene, polypropylene, and titanium dioxide are examples.

This industry had its Golden Age from 1940 to 1980, with growth equivalent to that of the modern software industry. Commodities of course continue to be made – the world needs toluene, ammonia and methanol just as it always has. However commodities are made by a dwindling number of ultra-efficient companies, which employ relatively few people. Sometimes, these companies are private, allowing them more easily to ride out the trade cycles typical of commodity businesses. Increasingly, the companies are associated with national oil companies and so have captive petroleum-based feedstocks, the most common raw materials for these commodity products.

More recently, as market growth has slowed, chemical companies without these captive feedstocks have moved towards higher value added products. These products are distinct from commodities in three ways: quantity, value, and structure. They are produced in small quantities, often less than 10 tons per year. The archetype is the active ingredients of a drug, where a few kilograms can command millions of dollars. These higher value added products are made of ingredients which cost a tenth or less of their selling price. These products gain their value from a molecular or micro structure which gives them better performance.