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45 min ago 2 min read
Industrial gas major Linde expects electronics to remain the largest contributor to its project backlog for the foreseeable future, supported by continued semiconductor investment and growing AI-related demand for industrial gases.
“Overall, I expect electronics to remain our largest backlog contributor and one of the fastest-growing markets for the foreseeable future,” said CEO Sanjiv Lamba during the company’s second-quarter earnings call.
The comments come after Linde announced a in Arizona to supply ultra-high-purity gases to one of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturers.
Lamba said the project forms part of a broader electronics growth story, with additional opportunities under development beyond the Arizona investment and further investments outside the reported backlog.
He added that construction had already begun under reimbursable letters of intent while long-term supply agreements were being finalised.
Not included in the backlog are “a couple of electronics wins” by Linde’s Taiwan joint venture, which will invest around $800m to build, own and operate air separation units (ASUs) and hydrogen production units supplying new semiconductor fabrication and advanced packaging facilities.
Continued investment in semiconductor manufacturing, combined with new project start-ups and growing demand for AI hardware, is increasing demand for industrial gases. Electronics was Linde’s fastest-growing end market during the quarter.
“Electronics is the fastest-growing end market, with a combination of project startups and higher demand tied to hardware associated with AI,” said Lamba.
Lamba described the electronics pipeline as “healthy”, saying the company was pursuing further large projects, with the strongest opportunities expected in the US, alongside Taiwan and South Korea, with additional projects in China.
“For the remainder of the year, we’re expecting to start up more than 20 projects that add up to approximately $1.3bn in investments,” said Lamba.
Despite bringing those projects online, he said Linde still expected its sale-of-gas backlog to finish the year with “an eight handle” – around $8bn – reflecting continued demand for new projects.
