Air Liquide plans to invest up to 850 million US dollars to build, own and operate four Large Modular Air separation units as well as related infrastructure in the framework of a long-term binding agreement with ExxonMobil for its planned low-carbon hydrogen project in Baytown, TX (USA). This will enable Air Liquide to increase its oxygen production capacity by 50% in Texas. Pending the final investment decision, this major project would mark the largest industrial investment in the history of the Air Liquide Group. This new Air Liquide Baytown low-carbon platform would deliver primarily vast amounts of low-carbon oxygen and nitrogen to ExxonMobil, and also significant volumes of argon, krypton and xenon to other customers of Air Liquide, notably in Industrial Merchant. This agreement also leverages existing Air Liquide’s pipelines infrastructure to support low-carbon hydrogen development. Thanks to low-carbon electricity supply and Air Liquide’s innovative solution, the CO2 footprint of oxygen production would be reduced by two-thirds. This major investment would represent the largest low-carbon oxygen production platform in the Americas.
Air Liquide will build a new industrial gas production facility in the United States to supply the new fab of Micron Technology, inc. at Boise in Idaho. In the framework of a long-term contract, the plant will provide large volumes of high purity carrier gases for the production of advanced memory chips, especially to follow the growing demand for computing capacity required by Artificial Intelligence. Air Liquide will invest over 250 million US dollars in this state-of-the art production unit.
Air Liquide will invest around 150 million US dollars to expand its production capacity and pipeline network in Clarksville, in Tennessee, United States, in the context of a new long-term contract with LG Chem. The new air separation unit will supply oxygen to LG Chem's battery materials production site and will also have significant liquefaction capacity to support the development of the Industrial Merchant business in Tennessee and Kentucky.
Air Liquide has decided to invest close to 60 million euros to take over and operate an Air Separation Unit (ASU) within the context of a long-term contract with Wanhua Chemical Group (Wanhua), a leading global chemical company, in the city of Yantai, China. In this context, Air Liquide will also build, own and operate a new liquid argon production unit on this ASU, built by the Air Liquide engineering.
This long-term contract, the first signed by the Group with Wanhua, will allow Air Liquide to start supplying industrial and medical gases in the city of Yantai and to reinforce its presence in the region of Shandong.
Air Liquide will make a significant investment to build, own, and operate a large air separation unit on Naoshima Island in Japan. This plant will support the ramp-up of production for Mitsubishi Materials, Japan's leading copper producer. In addition to supplying large volumes of oxygen, up to 1,400 tonnes per day, and nitrogen, Air Liquide's new unit will also produce argon and , contributing to ensure a stable supply of these noble gases that are essential to key industries in Japan, particularly semiconductor and transportation equipment manufacturing.
