Skip to content
Substrata
Join

Refining & separation · France

Air Liquide

AI FPAIQUF US Work there, own it, buy from it ↓

Industrial and electronic gases — holds How this is computedCount of bottlenecks on which this organisation is recorded as a producer, a holder of the capacity, or a supplier of a critical part.Method →Code → of the How this is computedCount of rows in the bottleneck corpus: every material plus every non-material chokepoint.Method →Code → bottlenecks tracked here.

Bottlenecks held2 (Computed: Count of bottlenecks on which this organisation is recorded as a producer, a holder of the capacity, or a supplier of a critical part.) of 33each with another maker recordedHardest binding10 (Estimate by Substrata, 2026-09-15: concentration 2 + substitution 3 + lead time 2 + inelasticity 3 = 10 of 12)/12Liquid helium (He-4) · judged 2026-09-15Directory gradeConcentrateda judgement, not a sourced factEvents0 (Computed: Accepted events that name this organisation, plus (counted separately) accepted events on a bottleneck it holds that do not name it.)name it · 2 more on what it holds

Why graded so · One of three global gas majors; the fab-qualified end is narrower than the industrial one.

Role cited from uk.airliquide.com ↗. The grade is this project’s judgement. Report an error

Searching is free and needs no AI. Summaries use your own AI model.

01Chokepoints it holds

2 of 2 sourced
  • Liquid helium (He-4)

    Refine · Within two years

    Other makers: QatarEnergy QA, ExxonMobil US, Gazprom RU, Air Products US, Linde GB US DE

    Sourced: de.airliquide.com ↗

    Estimate, not a measurementconcentration 2 + substitution 3 + lead time 2 + inelasticity 3 = 10 of 12. Qatar, the US and Russia; no substitute below 4 K. Recurring shortages, currently eased by new Qatari trains.By Substrata · 2026-09-15Supporting source →/122+3+2+3
  • Neon, excimer laser grade

    Refine · Within two years

    Other makers: Linde GB US DE, Messer DE, Iceblick UA, Cryoin Engineering UA, Baosteel Gases CN

    Sourced: uk.airliquide.com ↗

    Estimate, not a measurementconcentration 2 + substitution 3 + lead time 2 + inelasticity 3 = 10 of 12. 2022 showed the map: separation rides on steelmaking and half of it sat in Ukraine. Recycling eased it; another shock would not be absorbed.By Substrata · 2026-09-15Supporting source →/122+3+2+3

Score = concentration + substitution + lead time + inelasticity, each 0–3, an analyst judgement dated 2026-09-15; open a score for its rationale and assessment. Makers are those the corpus records, not the whole market. No market-share figure is sourced, so none is shown.

02What has happened

2 about what it holds

About what it holds, not naming Air Liquide

All events →

03Unread leads

6 found by the sweep, unread

Pages the sweep found on these chokepoints. Nobody here has read them yet; they are not events and not evidence.

04What could loosen its grip

about its chokepoints, not the company
  • On-site neon recycling and separation

    Capturing and re-purifying the rare gas a chip factory uses, instead of buying it fresh from an air separation plant.

    Science · for Neon, excimer laser grade

    readiness
    Estimate, not a measurementPrototype at meaningful scale. Scored 8 here until the source was read. Two years after the shortage, a leading memory maker was still calling its own system an industry first, recovering 72.7% with 77% as a target — which is a working pilot at one firm, not an industry that has adopted it.By Substrata · 2026-09-15Supporting source →/9

  • Any other coolant, below about 4 K

    none known · Physics — no alternative exists

    Substitute · for Liquid helium (He-4) · pubs.usgs.gov ↗

  • High-temperature superconducting magnets that run warmer

    demonstrated, not qualified · Qualification — proving it for this use takes years

    Substitute · for Liquid helium (He-4) · pubs.usgs.gov ↗

Readiness is the 1–9 technology-readiness scale, a dated judgement; open a figure for the reasoning and its source.

05Others at the same step of the chain

directory rows · grades are judgements

06Ways to take part

how to reach it, not whether to

Not investment advice. This says how the public can reach a company — a job, its shares, its products — not whether anyone should. It takes no account of anyone’s circumstances, and a company holding a chokepoint is not a reason to own it. What this is not

Work there
It publishes its roles on its own careers page.Official careers page ↗
Own part of it
Its shares trade publicly as AI FP and AIQUF US, bought and sold through a broker that reaches that exchange.AI FP listing record ↗AIQUF US listing record ↗
Buy from it
What it does in the chain: Industrial and electronic gases. At this depth of the chain most sales are to other businesses, under contract. Its own page describes what it offers.Its own page ↗

07Hiring

official careers page

Its roles are published on its own site, which Substrata links rather than reads. Official careers page ↗

08What this holds up

4 loops
  • Energyone turn: Months to years

    makes Liquid helium (He-4), which gates it.

    Worst judgement on this loop: How this is computedThe highest severity score among the bottlenecks recorded as gates on the loop.Method →Code →, judged 2026-09-15 · this join is sourced

  • Materials qualificationone turn: Years

    makes Liquid helium (He-4), which gates it.

    Worst judgement on this loop: How this is computedThe highest severity score among the bottlenecks recorded as gates on the loop.Method →Code →, judged 2026-09-15 · this join is sourced

  • Siliconone turn: Months

    makes Neon, excimer laser grade, which gates it.

    Worst judgement on this loop: How this is computedThe highest severity score among the bottlenecks recorded as gates on the loop.Method →Code →, judged 2026-09-15 · this join is sourced

  • Materials qualificationone turn: Years

    makes Neon, excimer laser grade, which gates it.

    Worst judgement on this loop: How this is computedThe highest severity score among the bottlenecks recorded as gates on the loop.Method →Code →, judged 2026-09-15 · this join is sourced

A loop is one design, build and measure turn. Severity is a dated judgement on a 0–12 scale, not a measurement, and the judgements are not added together — the figure shown is the worst single one.

09Sources

2 cited
  1. uk.airliquide.com ↗ — its role in the chain: Industrial and electronic gases; Neon, excimer laser grade: refine
  2. de.airliquide.com ↗ — Liquid helium (He-4): refine

Discussion

Comments use threadkit (permission is participation). Sign in with OrangeCat to write. Fact-check is the same assistant as Ask, grounded in the corpus.

  • No comments yet.

Need an account? Sign in.