In addition to its investments in Taiwan and South Korea, Air Liquide has recently opened a new plant in Japan that supplies ultra-pure nitrogen to guarantee the impurity-free environment that is required for semiconductor manufacturing. This plant will prevent annual emissions of 20,000 tonnes of CO2, which is equivalent to the carbon dioxide emitted by the electricity consumption of 6,000 Japanese households. The Group has also signed a long-term contract with the Chinese company BOE Technology Group. It specializes in the manufacture of LCD flat screens and Air Liquide has supplied the company with industrial gases for 20 years. This new contract underlines this customer’s trust in the Group’s expertise.
Air Liquide is also collaborating with some of the largest semiconductor manufacturers in the world. The Group recently signed a contract extension with one of its long standing partners, Globalfoundries, for sites in the United States (Malta, New York) and Singapore; Air Liquide currently supplies these sites with ultra pure nitrogen for semiconductor manufacturing. The Air Liquide plants in Malta will be modernized and a new production unit will be constructed in Singapore. The goal is to increase the energy efficiency of these facilities. For example, the Singapore unit will save energy equivalent to the total energy consumption of more than 3,650 Singaporean households.
“Our investments confirm our leadership in the semiconductor sector. This leading position reflects our ability to understand the requirements of the sector’s major players and the quality of the service we provide. These investments are also proof of our ability to provide innovative solutions with a lower environmental impact that meet the highest standards of purity and reliability.”
By strengthening its presence in all major semiconductor production centers, Air Liquide is positioning itself as a global strategic partner in the development of ultra high-tech semiconductors. These semiconductors are vital for the development of increasingly sophisticated electronic devices in a wide range of fields, from artificial intelligence and electric vehicles to cloud computing(3) and connected solutions for smart cities!
(3) Cloud computing involves transferring computer data to remote servers.