EFC announces $1.5 billion electronic specialty gas and advanced materials production project

Specialty gases and advanced materials company EFC Gases & Advanced Materials (EFC) recently announced an investment of US$210 million (RMB 1.5 billion) to build an electronic specialty gas and chemical production project in McGregor, Texas, USA. The project will include chemical synthesis of electronic specialty gases and ALD precursors, specialty gas delivery facilities, central laboratories, logistics centers and administrative buildings. The project will start in early 2025.

This is a major move in size and scope for EFC, which currently does mostly distribution and purification. "A lot of the product we buy now is crude and then purified," said Robert Keller, the company's director of strategic marketing and global partnerships. "The Texas facility is definitely a major step for us to get into the synthetic space."

Mark Thirsk, partner at Linx Consulting, said the North American semiconductor manufacturing gas market will be worth about $350 million (RMB 2.5 billion) in 2024 and will grow to $570 million (RMB 4.1 billion) by 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of about 13%. EFC is an unlisted private company and although it does not disclose sales revenue, Mark estimates that the company has about 10% of the market share.

Mark said, "For a company of EFC’s size, the Texas facility is a big investment, but a smart one. They have been recognized by a significant U.S. semiconductor customer, and I think they are poised to become a major player in the electronic gases space."

Robert said the new plant will synthesize fluorine compounds for semiconductor etching and deposition chamber cleaning, and also include the packaging of rare gases such as krypton, xenon and neon. In the future, the supply range will be expanded to wet electronic chemicals.

The new plant is located about 1.5 hours north of Austin, Texas, where Samsung Electronics will invest $45 billion to manufacture chips. Chip companies such as Micron Technology and Texas Instruments also have factories in the area. Robert said the plant has its own rail spur and is close to truck transportation routes, so the plant will be able to supply products to the growing semiconductor centers in Arizona, Ohio and Indiana.

Robert said the $210 million came from private capital and traditional loans. At the same time, EFC is also optimistic about obtaining federal funds through the US Chip Act, which authorizes the US government to provide a huge subsidy of $280 billion to the domestic chip industry.

The bill will also provide support to material suppliers such as EFC. In May, the U.S. Department of Commerce promised $75 million in CHIPS funds to materials company Absolics to build a factory to produce chip glass substrates. In June, specialty chemical manufacturer Entegris received $75 million in funds to build a factory. Even without CHIPS funds, chemical companies such as Merck and Sunlit Chemical would invest in factories in the United States.