As a key basic raw material for national strategic industries such as integrated circuits, display panels and photovoltaic energy, the electronic special gas with high dependence on import has become a“Choke” link in the development of science and Technology and new energy in China. Since 2009, the Ministry of National Development and Reform Commission, Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have issued a number of industry-related policies to clarify the nature of the new materials industry for special gases, giving a strong impetus to the rapid development of the industry, the localization trend of electronic special gas accelerates.

| What is electronic special gas?

Electronic special gas is an important branch of electronic gas, which is an indispensable raw material in the production of electronic industry, such as integrated circuit, display panel and so on. There are many kinds of electronic special gas, which are widely used in ion implantation, etching, vapor deposition, doping and so on, the“Grain” and“Source” of materials, such as integrated circuit, LCD panel, LED and PV, determine the final yield and reliability of the device. Electronic gas is widely used in high-tech industries such as semiconductors, microelectronics and related solar cells, or for thin film deposition, etching, doping, passivation, cleaning, or used as carrier gas, protective atmosphere, etc. . With the development of semiconductor and microelectronic technology, the purity of electronic special gas is required to be higher and higher, so the purification of electronic special gas is more and more important.

The upstream of electronic special gas are the basic chemical industries of III (boron, aluminum, gallium) , IV (carbon, silicon, germanium) , v (nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic) and halogen (fluorine, chlorine) , downstream in the integrated circuit, panel, LED and other areas of the various process links have a variety of uses. Electronic special gas is an indispensable raw material for the production of integrated circuits, display panels and other electronic industries. The 2021, electronic special gas is used in 43% of integrated circuits, followed by display panels, accounting for 21% , led and PV accounted for 13% and 6% , respectively, the main applications include ion implantation, etching, vapor deposition, doping and so on.

IC is the main downstream application of electronic special gas, accounting for 43% in 21 years. The Semiconductor industry industry is the foundation and strategic industry of our national economy. With the support of the policy, the urgency and importance of building the “China Core” and realizing the import substitution are constantly strengthened. In 2011, Chinese mainland wafer production capacity accounted for only 9% of the world, 202116% , is expected to 202419% , the chain will gradually shift to domestic. According to statistics, in 2021-2022, a total of 29 new wafer plants, including 8 new Chinese mainland, accounting for 27.59% .

Market size for specialty gases

In 2016, China's market for special gases was 15.6 billion yuan, reaching 28.2 billion yuan in 2020, with an average growth rate of more than 15% between 2016 and 2020, a significant growth rate. It is expected that after 2020, China's special gas market is expected to reach 69.1 billion yuan in 2025.

The proportion of electronic special gas to special gas in our country is about 60% . In recent years, the scale of the industry market has achieved sustained high growth rate, and the industry has strong growth. In 2016, China's market for electronic specialty gases was 10.3 billion yuan, reaching 17.5 billion yuan in 2020, with a compound growth rate of 14.17 percent between 2016 and 2020.

The electronic special gas industry of our country has developed for a short time. Because of the barriers mentioned above, the electronic special gas market of our country is mainly monopolized by the foreign manufacturers who entered the market early, and CR4 reaches 86% in 2020. At present, the first echelon of domestic electronic special gas manufacturers have the capacity of large-scale production, in the field of product segmentation has a certain advantage, but compared with foreign leading enterprises still have a big gap, domestic substitution space is huge.

Electronic special gas industry industry chain

Electronic gas is used in many areas, mainly in integrated circuit manufacturing, display panel industry (LCD manufacturing) , LED lighting and solar cells, of which more than 60% of semiconductor applications.

Upstream: outsourced gas supply is expected to rise to 202570% -75% , driving the steady growth of the gas supply market

There is still a gap in the proportion of professional gas outsourcing overseas, which is expected to increase from 65% to 70-75% by 2025. The 2021 of industrial gases is to be manufactured with self-built equipment and outsourced supply, china's outsourced gas market share has increased from 55 per cent in 2017 to 65 per cent in the 2021, but it still lags behind the developed world's 80 per cent outsourcing rate and is expected to increase to 70-75 per cent in 2025, professional outsourced gas suppliers will continue to benefit.

Midstream: electronic gas-based special gas, the demand share is expected to rise to 25% by 2025

Emerging Industries are expected to increase the share of specialty gases from 19% of 2021 to 25% by 2025: only 19% of 2021 gas demand, with electronics accounting for the majority of the specialty gas market, with the acceleration of the development of new industries downstream, it is expected that the proportion of specialty gases, mainly electronic specialty gases, will rise to 25% by 2025.

Downstream: Demand is concentrated in semiconductors, PV and so on, semiconductor demand share is expected to rise to 55%

Semiconductors, display panels, PV and so on are the main downstream of electronic special gas, our semiconductor industry is expected to 2021 from 43% of demand to 55% by 2025: electronics is an important component for downstream manufacturing of semiconductors, display panels, PV, LED, etc. , semiconductors account for a smaller share of our electronics demand than the global level, and as the Semiconductor industry shift to our country accelerates, the semiconductor sector is expected to account for 55% of our 2021 demand in 2025, up from 43% in the next three years.

Electronic special gas competition pattern

High technical barriers and high market access conditions exist in the production, separation, purification and supply phases of electronic special gases, and the global market is mainly monopolized by several multinational giants. Companies including air chemicals of the US, Lind of Germany, which bought BOC of the Praxair and the UK, Air Liquide of France and Sun Yat Acid of Japan account for about half of the global market for electronics specials.

The market of semiconductor electronic special gas in China is mainly monopolized by the foreign giants, which occupy more than 85% of the market share. The situation of semiconductor electronic special gas in China is very serious.

At present, the degree of localization of electronic gas is high, and some gases have been replaced by domestic ones.

The main domestic special gas manufacturers have Jinhong gas, water gas, green rhombus gas, Jacques Technology, haohua technology, Peretta Gas, NANTU photovoltaics, China shipbuilding heavy industry, etc. .

China shipbuilding heavy industry is famous for its nitrogen trifluoride and tungsten hexafluoride, Jinhong gas is the leading domestic specialty gas company providing liquid carbon dioxide and ultra-pure ammonia, and Wattell gas is the only domestic company that has passed the ASML photolithography certification, it mainly includes some neon gas.

Under the increasingly complex and changeable international situation in the past two years, the localization of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and materials has been carried out simultaneously with the arms-type expansion of chip manufacturing in the mainland, for the domestic semiconductor manufacturing industry to ensure the safety of the entire industrial chain.

At the same time, domestic electronic special gas industry technology research and development steadily, is expected to achieve import substitution. In 2020, the Global e-gas market was worth US $5.85 billion, and is expected to exceed US $8 billion in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.5% . China-made electronic special gas market will have greater growth in the future.