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15 min ago 3 min read
Industrial gas major Air Liquide has announced a €200m ($235.8m) investment in two new plants in Hiroshima, Japan, to support the production of advanced semiconductor chips.
The two plants, likely air separation units (ASUs), will deliver ultra-pure nitrogen, oxygen, and argon once operational at the end of 2028.
Air Liquide will build, own, and operate the units under a long-term agreement with a major semiconductor manufacturer expanding its capacity in the region.
Ultra-pure gases are crucial for keeping semiconductor manufacturing clean and reliable.
Ronnie Chalmers, Vice-President at Air Liquide, supervising operations in the Asia-Pacific region, said the news keeps pace with next-generation chips, which fuel technologies like AI.
“Japan has been a powerhouse in the semiconductor industry since the 1980s and remains a global technology leader today,” he added.
The investment is also expected to strengthen Air Liquide’s long-standing presence in Japan, where the company has operated for more than a century.
Air Liquide currently has 78 facilities dedicated to semiconductor activities in Japan.
In 2019, the group opened its Tokyo innovation centre to identify molecules for next-gen chip production.
Market shift
The investment comes as Japan’s specialty gas sector , with manufacturers scaling back production or shifting operations overseas amid rising costs and weakening domestic demand, according to industry newsletter Gas Review.
Japan was once the world’s largest supplier of specialty gases for the electronics industry, but several producers have recently curtailed output.
At the end of March 2026, Mitsui Chemicals was set to cease production of nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) at its Shimonoseki site, a gas widely used in semiconductor cleaning processes.
gasworld first reported on the , when the company cited rising energy and logistics costs, container investments, and labour shortages as pressures affecting the business.
The move follows earlier cutbacks across the sector, including Central Glass exiting NF3 production in 2018 and Resonac discontinuing several electronic gas lines, reflecting broader structural changes in Japan’s electronics industry.
Despite this, global demand remains strong. The electronic specialty gases market is expected to reach around $5.1bn in 2025, underpinned by continued growth in semiconductor manufacturing.
