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[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Paul Lee] POSCO Holdings joins hands with Chinese companies to localize rare gas for semiconductors
POSCO Group is planning to expand its rare gas business for semiconductors. POSCO Holdings announced on the 27th that it has signed a joint contract with China's Zhongtai Cryogenic Technology on the 22nd to produce high-purity rare gas. Zhongtai is a gas-related facility manufacturing and engineering company listed on the Shenzhen Exchange in China and has specialized technology in the gas sector.
High purity rare gas refers to neon (Ne), xenon (Xe), and Krypton (Kr) gas with a purity of 99.999%. It is mainly used in high-tech industries such as semiconductors, displays, and satellite propellants. POSCO Holdings has decided to establish a high-purity rare gas production plant with an annual capacity of 130,000 Nm3 in cooperation with Jungtai to cope with growing demand for high-purity rare gas in Korea.
The goal is to start construction of the plant on the site of Donghoan Lake in Gwangyang next year and to produce it commercially from the end of 2025. POSCO Holdings and Zhongtai share 75.1% and 24.9%, respectively, while 130,000nm3 can supply 52% of the domestic semiconductor market annually.
Through the joint venture, POSCO Holdings will stably supply rare crude gas produced at POSCO's steel mill to its joint production plant. Zhongtai will provide facilities and technology to produce high-purity rare gas from crude rare gas.
POSCO has been commercially producing crude neon gas (Ne), a raw material for high-purity rare gas, since January last year. It also plans to gradually expand production items to crude Xenon (Xe) and crude Kr (kr) starting next year from 2024.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
