Air Products (Lehigh Valley, Pa.; www.airproducts.com) announced that it has been awarded the industrial gases supply to support the capacity expansion of the Tianjin facility of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), one of the world’s leading semiconductor foundries and the largest and most advanced foundry in mainland China.
To support the customer’s expansion, Air Products will build an on-site nitrogen plant and leverage its existing air separation unit and liquid gases capacity to supply a broad range of high-purity bulk gases, including nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and helium, as well as compressed dry air.
SMIC’s Tianjin facility is located in the state-level Xiqing Economic and Technological Development Area (XEDA), a key electronics industry base in the northern China city. The current facility has been using Air Products’ high-purity nitrogen, oxygen, argon and helium since 2004 for producing 8-in. (200-mm) wafers. It is building a new fab as part of its expansion project to become the world’s largest integrated 8-inch IC production line with capacity of 150,000 wafers/month.
“SMIC is our long-term strategic customer and we are honored to have their continued confidence in our capabilities to support their expansion in Tianjin,” said Saw Choon Seong, China president, Industrial Gases, at Air Products. “Air Products is committed to supporting our customers’ growth and the advancement of China’s IC and other electronics manufacturing industries as guided by the government’s 13th Five-Year Plan and ‘Made in China 2025’ strategy. By expanding our capacity in Tianjin and XEDA, we will have an even stronger position with our infrastructure and pipeline network. We are prepared to meet the increasing demands from the thriving electronics and other high-end manufacturing industries, while growing our business further.”
China’s IC industry is developing at a fast pace as driven by a major government initiative launched in 2014 with billions of dollars of funding to advance its domestic electronics manufacturing industries. Several industrial clusters have emerged across the country, including Tianjin, where the IC industry is attracting increasing investments.