Electronic special gases: the golden track of semiconductor materials

Electronic special gases: the golden track of semiconductor materials

The electronic special gases industry has high barriers and high added value: electronic special gases have a vital impact on the performance 

of semiconductor devices. Customers generally have high requirements for product purity, mixing accuracy, etc.

 Customers generally conduct long-term trials and certification of gas products.

Moreover, the downstream field of electronic special gases has a fast technological iteration,

 and the quality requirements for products are constantly improving, 

requiring manufacturers to have the ability to develop supporting new technologies.

The market space for electronic special gases is broad, and there is a large space for domestic substitution: electronic special gases account 

for about 13% of the cost in the field of semiconductor materials, and are the second largest semiconductor material after silicon wafers.

The corresponding market size in China in 2018 was about 8 billion yuan. For the entire electronic special gas industry, 

the domestic market size in 2018 was about 12 billion yuan.

Due to the continuous increase in added value brought about by the replacement of downstream technologies such as semiconductors,

 the growth of the electronic special gas market has surpassed the growth of the entire semiconductor material.

China's semiconductor industry expects that the electronic special gas industry will reach 23 billion yuan by 2024.

Recently, the domestic electronic special gas market is monopolized by five major foreign trade giants, Air Products and Chemicals,

 Air Liquide, Taiyo Nippon Sanso, Praxair, and Linde.

 Domestic enterprises account for only 12% of the market, and there is a broad space for domestic substitution.

The golden track of electronic special gases has ushered in a historical opportunity: the current semiconductor industry chain is undergoing the third shift, from South Korea, Taiwan, China to mainland China. In this process, local semiconductor manufacturers such as Yangtze Memory and SMIC are expected to rise, and the special gas companies supporting them will benefit from the rise of the local industry chain.

In addition, the semiconductor industry is also strongly supported by the government.

The second phase of the Big Fund established in 2019 will take semiconductor materials as one of the key investment areas.

Related special gas companies are expected to receive intensive financial support. Under the coordination of the Big Fund,

special gas companies can also obtain more supporting cooperation opportunities with domestic semiconductor manufacturers.

Industry development trend: rapid product replacement, localization ushers in a historical opportunity

Special gas products follow the rapid replacement of downstream technologies: in various fields of special gases,

the electronic semiconductor field has the highest requirements for the purity and quality stability of special gases.

In the field of electronic semiconductors, special gases are widely used in integrated circuits, LCD panels, LED, 

fiber optic communications, photovoltaics and other industries. In recent years, the downstream industry technology has been rapidly changing, 

especially in the field of integrated circuit manufacturing, the manufacturing nodes are constantly decreasing, 

from 28mm to 5nm process, and the wafer size is from 8-inch wafer to 12-inch wafer. As a key material for integrated circuit manufacturing, 

with the rapid iteration of downstream industry technology, the requirements for purity and precision of special gases continue to increase.