The market demand for electronic-grade high-purity hydrogen is vast, and local companies still need to speed up their efforts to improve their competitiveness.

Hydrogen is a simple substance formed from the hydrogen element, with the chemical formula H2. It is an extremely flammable, insoluble in water, colorless and odorless gas under normal temperature and pressure. Hydrogen has the characteristics of non-toxic, good reducing properties, green and pollution-free, good antioxidant properties, low molecular weight, and high combustion calorific value. It is widely used in chemical industry, electronics, automobiles, new energy power generation, fuel, medicine and other fields.

Electronic-grade high-purity hydrogen refers to hydrogen used in the electronic field with a purity of 99.9999% and above, mainly including 6N high-purity hydrogen and 7N high-purity hydrogen. The main production routes of electronic-grade high-purity hydrogen include methanol cracking hydrogen production, natural gas cracking hydrogen production, chlor-alkali industrial by-product hydrogen, coke oven gas hydrogen production, etc. The production methods are relatively diverse.

Electronic-grade high-purity hydrogen is mainly used in large-scale and ultra-large-scale integrated circuit manufacturing, inflatable electron tube filling, electric vacuum material manufacturing, electronic microchip manufacturing, wire and strip manufacturing, hydrogen fuel cell manufacturing, electron tube cathode and grid production, etc. , the application fields are relatively wide. At the same time, 7N and above electronic-grade high-purity hydrogen can also be used in silicon epitaxy, LED, LCD panels and other fields, and the market demand is huge.

In recent years, with the rapid development of the electronics industry, electronic gases have become increasingly prominent in the semiconductor industry. As one of the important subcategories of electronic gases, electronic-grade high-purity hydrogen plays an indispensable role in the fields of microelectronics, optoelectronics, electron tubes, batteries, etc. Its quality has an important impact on the performance of semiconductors and integrated circuits. .

Therefore, driven by the rapid development of the domestic semiconductor industry, the market demand for electronic-grade high-purity hydrogen continues to increase, and the output continues to increase. According to the “China Electronic Grade High Purity Hydrogen Industry Market Monitoring and Future Development Prospects Research Report 2023-2027” released by the Industrial Research CenterShows that domestic electronic-grade high-purity hydrogen production reached 56.478 million cubic meters in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 12.6%.

At present, the foreign-funded companies that are developing my country’s electronic-grade high-purity hydrogen market include Linde Group, Messer, Air Liquide, Sumitomo Chemical, Air Chemicals, Taiyo Nippon Sanso, etc.; the local companies mainly include Jinhong Gas, Kemet Gas, Walter Gas, Maoming Petrochemical, Heyuan Gas, Hydrogen Fuwan Hydrogen Energy, etc.

Industry analysts personnel said that for a long time, leading foreign companies have relied on technology, experience, scale, brand, etc. Advantages have always occupied a major share in my country’s electronic-grade high-purity hydrogen market. In 2021, foreign-funded companies accounted for more than 80% of the market. Although local companies have the ability to independently produce electronic-grade high-purity hydrogen, the quality of domestic products and those of leading foreign companies is poor. There is still a huge gap in terms of performance, performance, etc. Therefore, at present, local companies occupy a relatively small share of the domestic electronic-grade high-purity hydrogen market, and there is huge room for domestic substitution in the domestic market in the future.