Linde to Build New Air Separation Unit for Samsung's Pyeongtaek Chip Plant
According to Linde's announcement on April 29, the industrial gas giant will construct a new air separation unit (ASU) to expand its gas supply to Samsung's massive chip manufacturing complex in Pyeongtaek, South Korea.
The new ASU, expected to be operational by mid-2026, will be the eighth on-site ASU at the facility, supplying nitrogen, oxygen, and argon. Linde will also leverage its existing on-site hydrogen production facilities to supply hydrogen to Samsung.
"Pyeongtaek is Linde's largest single site globally for an electronics customer," stated BS Sung, President of Linde Korea.
Samsung's Pyeongtaek complex is one of the world's largest semiconductor manufacturing facilities, producing advanced DRAM, NAND flash memory, and logic chips. The company continues to invest billions of dollars to expand production at the site to meet the growing demand for semiconductors in AI, data centers, and electronics. In 2020, Samsung announced plans to invest over $100 billion by 2030 in advanced chip manufacturing, with a significant portion allocated to expanding the Pyeongtaek facility and a nearby new fab.
To support its expanding production, the Pyeongtaek plant requires vast quantities of ultra-high-purity gases. A single semiconductor production line can consume up to 50,000 Nm³ of nitrogen per hour for purging, inerting, and cleaning processes. Hydrogen, oxygen, and argon are also essential for the deposition, etching, and oxidation stages of chip production.
