Air Liquide will invest more than $160 million to build, own and operate a new large-scale production facility to supply ultra-high-purity gases, including hydrogen, to a new semiconductor fabrication plant in Arizona. Air Liquide did not identify the name of the manufacturer but said its facility would begin operations in 2028.
As discussed in this week’s Hydrogen Billboard, every advanced fabrication plant (often called a fab) requires continuous supplies of ultra-high-purity hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and argon. Rather than trucking these gases, suppliers such as Air Liquide typically build dedicated on-site production and purification facilities connected directly to the fabs by pipeline. Hydrogen is involved in multiple steps throughout semiconductor fabrication (see table below) and is widely used in processes to improve transistor performance and manufacturing yields.
Air Liquide said its hydrogen production and carbon-capture units will operate on-site. The captured carbon dioxide (CO₂) will be liquefied and purified to supply the customer's high-purity gas needs and contribute to reducing the carbon footprint of the chip manufacturing process, the company said.
