Air Liquide is strengthening its role as a key technology partner in the global semiconductor industry through long-term partnerships, advanced technologies, and sustainable innovation. Mr. Ronnie Chalmers highlighted the company’s €130 million investment in Singapore to supply ultra-high purity gases essential for next-generation chip manufacturing.
Air Liquide, a world leader in gases, technologies, and services for industry and healthcare, operates in 60 countries. Oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen—the essential small molecules at the core of the Group’s activities since 1902—enable innovation across healthcare, electronics, and high-tech industries. ChemAnalyst spoke with Mr. Ronnie Chalmers, Group Vice President of Air Liquide, about the company’s strategy in semiconductors and electronics. Drawing on his leadership experience, Chalmers emphasized long-term partnerships, advanced technologies, and operational excellence. He highlighted Air Liquide’s €130 million Singapore investment in state-of-the-art gas facilities supplying ultra-high purity nitrogen, oxygen, and argon for advanced chip production. Looking ahead, the company plans to deepen co-innovation, expand digital integration, and advance decarbonization, strengthening its role as a key technology partner in the global electronics ecosystem.
Complete Interview with Mr. Ronnie Chalmers
Q: Please provide an overview of your role at Air Liquide and your leadership experience in the Electronics sector, and how these have shaped your strategic vision for the region?
Mr. Ronnie Chalmers: As a Group Vice President at Air Liquide, I am responsible for overseeing the company's operations in Asia-Pacific and Procurement. The Electronics sector is a core driver of global growth, and Asia is the key market and engine for this industry. Therefore, my leadership experience has been laser-focused on ensuring Air Liquide is much more than just a supplier; we are a strategic technology partner to the leading players in the semiconductor and electronics ecosystem here.
This perspective has shaped a strategy that centers long-term partnerships and significant investment in the Asia-Pacific region and our recent investments in Singapore are testament to this. These investments include a €130 million investment to build and operate two state-of-the-art industrial gas facilities to supply ultra-high purity nitrogen and other gases to a leading semiconductor manufacturer, and a separate agreement to provide a comprehensive Carrier Gas solution—including ultra-high purity nitrogen, oxygen, and argon—to VisionPower Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (VSMC).
These major investments underscore our dedication to being an essential partner that enables the growth and technological advancement of the electronics industry, specifically here in the dynamic Asia-Pacific region.
Q: What were the key factors behind Air Liquide’s decision to invest €130 million in Singapore for new industrial gas facilities supporting semiconductor manufacturing?
Mr. Ronnie Chalmers: This investment isn't just about building plants; it's a strategic move to solidify Air Liquide's position as a solutions provider and a core technology enabler for the semiconductor industry here in Singapore. The core factor is the shift to smaller, more powerful chips that demand significantly higher purity in the gases and materials used. These new facilities will supply massive volumes of ultra-high purity nitrogen. This is not a commodity; it’s a critical process material. Any impurity can ruin a full batch of advanced wafers, so providing long-term reliability is key for our major customers.
While the industrial gas facilities handle the large-volume carriers, this investment is completely complementary to our full product offer, which includes Advanced Materials. These specialized molecules are the precursors essential for the atomic-level deposition and etching processes that define a high-performance chip. By strengthening our infrastructure for bulk gases, we ensure the entire chain—from the carrier to the molecule—is seamless, reliable, and optimized for the most advanced fabrication nodes.
Q: Please elaborate on the technological innovations and operational strategies incorporated in these facilities to enhance efficiency and reliability?
Mr. Ronnie Chalmers: The facilities incorporate technological innovation and smart operational strategies to provide the highest possible levels of reliability and efficiency, which translates directly into better yield and lower operational risk for our semiconductor partners. The latest version of our TCNTM production unit, capable to co-produce Nitrogen, Oxygen, and Argon has been designed with the most energy-efficient process yet. In addition, an Integrated Liquefaction Unit will maintain sufficient liquid stock levels in a large liquid storage system, ensuring best-in-class reliability while significantly reducing our carbon footprint by minimizing the need for product to be hauled in. This efficient production capability is further enhanced by our ability to synergize with neighboring bulk gas networks, allowing for optimal operating modes.
Our TCNTM range benefits from several decades of operational feedback used to continuously improve our design and achieve the highest reliability at the optimum Total Cost of Ownership. The plants themselves are constructed using a modular design, which allows us to assemble them quickly on-site, reducing construction time and cost.The backbone of our reliability is the Smart Innovative Operations Centre (SIO), where dedicated teams monitor our systems 24/7 using predictive analytics. This technology allows us to identify and address potential issues with equipment, electrical, or water systems before a failure occurs, virtually eliminating unnecessary downtime.
Q: What does this series of contracts with a long-standing customer indicate about Air Liquide’s market positioning and competitive advantage in Asia?
Mr. Ronnie Chalmers: Simply put, it demonstrates that we are the Technology Partner of Choice for the industry’s most advanced expansions. By securing this major expansion in Singapore, we solidify our forefront position in one of the most strategic and technologically advanced semiconductor hubs in the world.
Our competitive edge is not just selling gases; it is selling a complete, integrated solution that reduces risk for our customers. The investment strengthens our ability to seamlessly deliver the entire spectrum of required materials: from the large volumes of ultra-high purity Carrier Gases produced on-site, to our specialized Advanced Materials—the precursor molecules essential for the complex deposition and etching steps. We offer a one-stop solution that simplifies their supply chain. By investing €130 million into next-generation digital facilities, we are proactively aligning our infrastructure with the customer’s latest technology roadmap and enabling the future of their most advanced production nodes.
Q: How critical is the supply of ultra-high purity nitrogen for advanced semiconductor production, and how are Air Liquide’s next-generation facilities designed to ensure large-volume, consistent, and reliable delivery?
Mr. Ronnie Chalmers: That hits at the heart of our value proposition. In the semiconductor industry, particularly here in Singapore, the supply of ultra-high purity nitrogen isn't just important—it's critical. For advanced chip manufacturing, where structures are measured in nanometers, nitrogen is more than just an inert gas; it is the atmospheric backbone of the entire fabrication process. Any impurity, even at the parts-per-trillion level, can destroy an entire batch of high-value silicon wafers.
The nitrogen must be ultra-high purity to serve as the carrier gas that delivers specialized process materials and, crucially, to maintain the clean, inert atmosphere required during deposition, etching, and annealing stages. The scale of modern mega-fabs, especially those producing chips for AI and advanced computing, demands an enormous, constant, and unyielding volume of gas. If the nitrogen supply is interrupted or compromised for even a few minutes, the operational and financial loss can be catastrophic.
Our investment in these two new facilities in Singapore is specifically engineered to meet this triple mandate: large volume, consistency, and reliability.
Large Volume On Site Production by building, owning, and operating these facilities adjacent to the customer’s fab. This eliminates the risk and logistical complexity associated with transporting massive volumes of gas over long distances, ensuring a dedicated, robust, and scalable supply line.
Optimised purity control by ensuring the entire gas purification and delivery chain is optimized with state-of-the-art technology to maintain the highest, most consistent purity levels required for sub-nanometer fabrication nodes. This is paramount for maximizing the customer's production yield and quality control.
Advanced Digital integration by equipping plants with systems like predictive maintenance and advanced automation. This allows us to use real-time data to anticipate and mitigate potential issues before they affect the process, ensuring continuous run-time and avoiding costly downtime for the customer.
Q: Looking ahead, how do you foresee Air Liquide’s role evolving in the global semiconductor ecosystem, and what strategic priorities will guide future investments?
Mr. Ronnie Chalmers: Air Liquide’s role in the global semiconductor ecosystem is not just as a supplier, but as a co-innovator and risk mitigator. Looking ahead, this role will evolve toward deeper technological and sustainability integration with our key partners.
Our future role will be defined by a few key contexts:
Technology Co-Development: As chip features shrink, the materials become the bottleneck. Our role is shifting from supplying standard products to co-developing the actual molecules and delivery systems required for the next generation of chip architectures. This means moving further up the value chain, focusing on Advanced Materials that unlock performance and reduce environmental impact at the nanoscale.
Decarbonization Partner: The energy and carbon footprint of chip manufacturing is under intense scrutiny. Our role will expand to include decarbonization solutions, helping fabs meet their own aggressive sustainability targets by supplying gases produced with low-carbon energy and integrating solutions that minimize energy consumption in their processes. We’re embedding this into every investment decision.
Digital Integration and Operational Excellence: Innovation remains at the core. Our priority is to fully monetize our digital infrastructure including expanding the use of predictive maintenance and AI across our global fleet to increase operational uptime to higher levels, which is the cornerstone of our service commitment, and using digital tools to offer end-to-end services, simplifying the entire fluid and chemical supply chain for our partners so they can focus entirely on chip manufacturing.
We are a technology partner. Our future is about deepening that partnership by focusing on the most complex materials and the most demanding sustainability targets.
ChemAnalyst Insights on Nitrogen
In India, nitrogen prices eased slightly quarter-over-quarter due to ample inventory levels. Spot prices moderated as distributors held sufficient stocks and farmers delayed procurement, limiting aggressive buying. The market outlook shows mild volatility driven by seasonal demand shifts, while domestic production remained broadly steady. Nitrogen demand is neutral following the completion of Kharif sowing, with buyers awaiting signals for Rabi season restocking. Inventory carryover and limited export activity continued to exert downward pressure on prices, while domestic plants operated reliably with minimal scheduled maintenance, keeping near-term supply disruptions low. The price movement in September was primarily influenced by high inventory levels reducing urgency for spot purchases, the completion of the Kharif season softening fertilizer demand, and stable feedstock costs combined with consistent production, which constrained any significant price increases.
