Linde expands business with semiconductor manufacturers in China

Shanghai, China, January 9, 2008 – The technology group the Linde Group is expanding its business with semiconductor manufacturers in China, signing multiple, multi-year contracts to supply high purity gases to the country’s wafer fabrication plants.

In China, Linde has made a series of major investments to support the semiconductor manufacturing industry, which has grown by some 30 percent a year for the past five years. Linde has contracted to supply wafer fabs located in Chengdu, Shanghai, Suzhou and will now add Dalian, where Linde will enter into a new, multi-year agreement to supply high purity bulk gases to the new 300mm wafer fabrication being built by a major IC manufacturer.

The Dalian project, which will begin operating in early 2009, is expected to be the first of several semiconductor plants on the site. Using its unique Spectra technology, Linde will build an integrated ultra-high purity nitrogen and oxygen plant as well as a hydrogen generator and supply systems for argon and helium. Linde will also install additional infrastructure for purification, filtration and quality assurance functions.

“This agreement confirms Linde’s position as a technology leader and major supplier of gases and related services to the global electronics industry. It solidifies our relationship with this customer, who we are excited to be working with again, and strengthens our position as the leading gases company in China,” said Noel Leeson, head of Linde Electronics, the global electronic gases business of The Linde Group.

Steven Fang, head of Linde in China, said, “We have been working in China for nearly 25 years to help fuel the growth of Chinese industry. Our experience and commitment to the electronics industry, as well as to oil, chemicals and metals manufacturers is evident – Linde’s total investments to date in China exceed US$750m.”

In Suzhou, Linde has expanded its nitrogen gas production capacity feeding a high purity pipeline network in the Suzhou Industrial Park to meet increased demand from a major 200mm wafer fab site, as well as from numerous assembly and test facilities.

In Shanghai, Linde is providing complete bulk gas supply systems to advanced 200mm fabs in SongJiang and ZhangJiang. And in Chengdu, Linde is completing a production site that will supply bulk gases to the wafer fabrication and packaging plants of China’s leading domestic semiconductor manufacturer. Linde also operates China’s only ultra high purity liquid nitrogen plant, which provides critical backup product for our growing customer base.

Linde has also expanded its electronic special gases capacity with a new production plant in Suzhou’s High Tech Park. This facility, which can handle the full range of today’s advanced specialty process gases, is providing gases and chemicals to manufacturers of semiconductors, liquid crystal displays, light emitting diodes and solar cells throughout China and East Asia.

The Linde Group is a world-leading gases and engineering company with around 50,000 employees working in more than 70 countries worldwide. Following the acquisition of The BOC Group the company has annual gases and engineering sales of approximately 12 billion euros. The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards forward-looking products and services. Linde Electronics offers electronics customers around the world an extensive selection of high purity gases, related products, services and technical solutions for research and development through to large-scale production.

For more information, please see The Linde Group online at http://www.linde.com


Contact:
Linde China:
Newman Tang
Tel: +8621 5030 1605
Fax: +8621 5030 1080
Email: newman.tang@linde.com

The Linde Group:
Stefan Metz
Tel: +49.89.35757-1322
Fax: +49.89.35757-1398
Email: stefan.metz@linde.com