China is already a major supplier of rare gases in the world

Neon, xenon, and krypton are indispensable process gases in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The stability of the supply chain is extremely important, because this will seriously affect the continuity of production. At present, Ukraine is still one of the major producers of neon gas in the world. Due to the escalating situation in Russia and Ukraine, the stability of the neon gas supply chain has inevitably caused panic in the entire industry. These three noble gases are by-products of the iron and steel industry and are separated and produced by air separation plants. Heavy industries such as iron and steel in the former Soviet Union are huge, so the separation of rare gases has always been relatively strong as a subsidiary industry. After the disintegration of the former Soviet Union, it evolved into a situation in which Russia mainly carried out crude gas separation, and enterprises in Ukraine were responsible for refining and exporting to the world.
Although neon, krypton and xenon are necessary for the production of the semiconductor industry, their absolute usage is not high. As a by-product of the steel industry, the global market volume is not very large. It is precisely in this circumstance that the attention is not high, and the purification of these rare gases requires a certain technical threshold and is deeply bound to the scale of the steel industry. Over the years, the global market has gradually formed neon, neon, Krypton and Xenon supply chain. China is a global steel powerhouse. Breakthroughs have been achieved in the purification technology of these rare gases, and the production process is relatively mature. It is no longer a technology that can “stuck China’s neck”. Even in extreme cases, China can organize emergency production to ensure domestic supply.
China has become a major country in the global supply of rare gases. In 2021, China’s rare gases (krypton, neon, and xenon) will be mainly exported to Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States. The export volume of neon gas was 65,000 cubic meters, 60% of which were exported to South Korea; the export volume of krypton was 25,000 cubic meters, and 37% was exported to Japan; the export volume of xenon was 900 cubic meters, and 30% was exported to South Korea.