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Posco to fire up ‘full value chain’ industrial gas factory as market heats up

Published: 31 Mar. 2026, 09:37

An illustration of an industrial gas value chain map [POSCO]

With the importance of industrial gas rising as the semiconductor, aerospace and secondary battery industries developing, Posco is responding to the shift with the pending completion of its first “full value chain” domestic rare gas factory in April.

According to a global research organization, the semiconductor industry is expected to post average annual growth of 8.6 percent from 2024 to 2030 to exceed $1 trillion. The chip market, meanwhile, is expanding on demand for value-added memory and cutting-edge logic semiconductors such as AI, high bandwidth memory and double data rate 5 synchronous dynamic random-access memory. The aerospace industry is also on track to surpass $1 trillion in 2040 as satellite and space exploration investments increase.

These sectors rely on industrial gases, which include atmospheric gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon, rare gases such as neon, xenon, krypton and helium, and specialty gases such as NF3, WF6 and SiCl4. As global supply chains face disruptions with increasing geopolitical risk — particularly with the war in Ukraine, home to 50 percent of the world’s neon production, which has ground to a halt — Posco is working to stabilize supply chains.

As to respond to the need for the stable supply of industrial gases, Posco has run oxygen factories inside the steel plant, and has been fostering gas industrial business.

The Korean firm already runs oxygen factories inside its steel plant. Posco began crude rare gas production in 2022, before spinning off the gas business in 2023 and breaking into the specialty gas industry two years later.

The company owns 20 air separation units and supplies oxygen, nitrogen and argon to steel plants on the back of 50 years of experience.

Posco launched the Posco Zhongtai Air Solution specialized rare gas company in August 2024 to build the foundation for a stable supply chain for neon, xenon and krypton. The new factory in Gwangyang, South Jeolla, is expected to be completed in April and will manufacture high-purity products through crude rare gas. The facility will provide more than half of the crude rare gas in the semiconductor industry, while bolstering the domestic supply of rare gases.

Posco is also aggressively investing in semiconductor-related specialty gases. The company has integrated Chemgas Korea and acquired 40 percent of FEWM, a semiconductor process gas provider while supplying a diverse range of semiconductor specialty gases such as SiCl4, C3H6, GeH4 and H3PO4 in the domestic market. By cooperating with the Research Institute of Industrial Science & Technology, Posco is developing new semiconductor materials and striving to establish a stable global supply chain.

Through immense know-how in the gas sector, Posco is becoming a trustworthy partner in Korean manufacturing to provide a stable supply chain in high-tech industries.

BY LEE DAHYUN [[email protected]]

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