The strengthening of the semiconductor market is reshaping Asia’s industrial landscape, with new fabs and advanced manufacturing driving demand for ultra-high purity gases and molecules. Air Liquide is responding with targeted investments and long-term contracts across South Korea, Singapore and China, reinforcing its local production capacity and its technology offer while supporting customers’ performance and decarbonization pathways.
IN SOUTH KOREA, SCALING ADVANCED MATERIALS TO POWER SEMICONDUCTOR GROWTH
Over the last 18 months, Air Liquide has expanded its presence in South Korea with the opening of three new plants to secure the supply of critical molecules for chipmakers.
In Sejong, to the west, the Group inaugurated a new plant at its Advanced Materials Center, providing high-quality diborane, an essential molecule used to fine-tune the electrical properties of silicon in semiconductor devices. This facility supports the decision made in July 2023 to invest 200 million U.S. dollars in advanced materials production sites in South Korea and Taiwan Island. In Cheonan, a few miles north, a rare gases purification unit is now supplying krypton and xenon to major local customers in the semiconductor industry, leveraging Air Liquide’s proprietary cryogenic technologies to achieve the ultra-high purity levels required for chip manufacturing. In Hwaseong, further north, Air Liquide has started up the world’s largest molybdenum(1) manufacturing plant, supplying leading semiconductor customers with Subleem™, a portfolio of ultra-high purity molecules and proprietary delivery systems that enable sublimation(2) of solid precursors into gas directly at the customer’s site.
Together, these investments strengthen Air Liquide’s role as a long-term partner and supplier of electronic materials to global semiconductor leaders by combining local manufacturing with proprietary purification and delivery technologies. These investments improve safety, quality and security of supply, while accelerating customers’ time-to-market for next-generation chips in a context of rapid capacity expansion and rising resilience expectations across the semiconductor value chain. This momentum is further reinforced by the acquisition of DIG Airgas, which significantly expands Air Liquide’s footprint in South Korea and strengthens its position in ultra-pure industrial gases.