Air Liquide announced that it will invest around EUR 70 million to build a gases plant in Wuhan, Central China, to supply a major memory chipmaker. Air Liquide has been producing ultra-pure industrial gases for this leading Chinese high-tech company for more than 12 years. Air Liquide will build, own and operate this ultra-high purity industrial gas plant,which has been designed leveraging the Group’s latest technology. This facility will produce 52,000 Nm3 of nitrogen per hour, as well as oxygen and argon among other ultra-high purity gases, and is planned to be operational in 2022. Secured by a new long-term supply agreement with this major memory chipmaker, this contract will more generally allow Air Liquide to support the growth of the semiconductor sector in the Wuhan basin. In recent years the city of Wuhan has been actively supporting the development of a high-tech hub, particularly for the NAND flash memory chips industry. Air Liquide in China operates nearly 120 plants and employs close to 5,000 employees. With a strong presence in the key coastal industrial areas, Air Liquide is now expanding into the center, south and west. Its main business activities include industrial and medical gas operations, Engineering & Construction (designing, manufacturing and installing air separation units/hydrogen facilities), as well as Innovation activities.