Air Liquide to build gas production facility in the US
French industrial giant Air Liquide will invest $250m in the Idaho-based plant to support large semiconductor manufacturers in the region.
Air Liquide provides high purity industrial gases such as ultra-pure nitrogen, which are essential for the production of memory chips. Its new project will supply Micron Technology and others, and is expected to be operational by the end of 2025.
This new plant has been designed to minimised the use of raw materials and power. It is part of a complete Carrier Gas solution designed by Air Liquide for larger customers. As such it uses digital technologies and modularisation to reduce delivery times. Air Liquide says the new production unit is 5% more power efficient than the previous generation plants. The electricity for the facility is targeted to be 100% from renewable sources within the next five years.
Matthieu Giard, Chief Executive Officer of Americas for the Air Liquide Group, said: "We are pleased to further strengthen our 30 year-long partnership with Micron Technology. This investment will support the production of leading-edge memory chips, notably to meet the growing demand for computing capacities required by Artificial Intelligence. This contract illustrates our strategy to further accompany our customers in their development, including in the US."
