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Gases and cryogenic equipment are embedded in the aerospace sector, and for industrial gas majors, the space industry increasingly represents a key growth opportunity.
in the business, Air Liquide, Linde, and Air Products are all still talking up space’s potential to drive capacity expansions and higher revenues. We look back at the trio’s most recent results.
US private space sector ‘compelling’ for Air Liquide
In the first half of 2026, Air Liquide won from space technology firm ArianeGroup to supply cryogenic equipment and propulsion gases for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Ariane 6 heavy launcher programme.
Through its Airgas subsidiary, the French industrial gas major also won the contract to supply mission-critical high-pressure nitrogen for the at the Kennedy Space Center.
And it sees further growth over the Atlantic.
Speaking on Air Liquide’s Capital Markets Day call, Marcelo Fioranelli, CEO of Airgas, said, “A compelling growth catalyst for Air Liquide is a rapidly expanding private space sector, particularly in the US.
“[This comes] as technological scale drives down launch costs, [and] launch frequency is accelerating, creating a near €1.8bn ($1.46bn) industrial gas market by 2030,” he added.
According to Fioranelli, the company currently supplies every major space hub in North America, leveraging its historical relationships with organisations such as NASA and the ESA, to capture the high growth potential of private launch providers.
“While this high growth market today consists primarily of merchant bulk volumes and equipment sales, we foresee a potential transition toward long-term…defence supply contracts that secure return of capital invested,” he noted.
Adam Peters, CEO and President for Air Liquide North America, also identified the space industry as a key US opportunity, alongside rapid growth in the electronics gases sector, reshoring, data centre proliferation, infrastructure, and defence.
Linde could isolate aerospace as end-market
Aerospace accounted for more than a third of Linde’s global manufacturing growth in Q2 2026, highlighting the sector’s growing importance to the industrial gases company.
Speaking during Linde’s second-quarter earnings call, CEO Sanjiv Lamba said the US remained the primary driver of volume growth due to aerospace and construction activity related to data centres.
The Q2 performance builds on momentum highlighted during Linde’s Q1 earnings call in May, when CFO Matt White said aerospace activity linked to space vehicle production, testing, and launch accounted for around half of the company’s in the US during Q1.
“We will isolate aerospace as a separate end market when it consistently exceeds 5% or more of global sales,” he added.
In July 2025, the company it would build a new air separation unit (ASU) in Brownsville, Texas, and increase capacity at its existing ASU in Mims, Florida, to support the US space industry.
Air Products’ activity in Europe amid ‘slow’ US quarter
Notably, this year, Air Products announced it will supply low-carbon liquid hydrogen for ground tests of launch engines used in ESA missions.
The company signed a to supply French aerospace space firm ArianeGroup with the lower-carbon gas for ground tests of cryogenic engines used to launch space missions.
However, speaking on Air Products’ Q3 earnings call, CFO Melissa Schaeffer, said, “We saw some price improvement in the Americas…This was more than offset by headwinds and helium pricing, and that…largely was a slow quarter in the space sector.
“We do want to see that hopefully rebound in the next quarter as we see launches increase,” she noted.
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