Centuries ago, Portuguese navigators launched bold expeditions into the unknown, mapping sea routes that connected continents and sparked global trade. Today, that same fearless curiosity is mirrored not only in Portuguese ventures but also in visionary companies like Air Liquide, whose expansion into Singapore’s booming semiconductor industry captures both the pioneering spirit of the past and the boundary-breaking ethos of the digital age.

In a world now defined more by data streams than ocean currents, Air Liquide is investing €70 million to build, own, and operate a high-tech industrial gas production facility in Singapore’s Tampines Wafer Fab Park. This strategic hub, central to the nation’s semiconductor output, will host Air Liquide’s latest effort to power the technologies that fuel the modern world.

Like the Portuguese ships that once carried spices and science across continents, Air Liquide will now deliver ultra-high purity nitrogen, oxygen, and argon which is crucial to semiconductor fabrication, to VisionPower Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (VSMC), a joint venture of Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation and NXP Semiconductors. But today’s vessels are pipelines and algorithms, and the explorers are engineers, data scientists, and global strategists.

This isn’t just industrial expansion, it’s a digital-age voyage. The new facility will incorporate Air Liquide’s Carrier Gas solution, offering industry-leading energy efficiency and a compact footprint. In doing so, it aligns perfectly with the growing demands of next-gen chip production and green tech, creating a bridge between sustainability and high performance.

The semiconductor sector now accounts for over 20% of Singapore’s manufacturing, and Air Liquide’s move cements its role as a key enabler of supply chain resilience. But more broadly, this initiative exemplifies how modern enterprises navigate the currents of global innovation, mirroring the Age of Discoveries with a new compass—the internet, cloud technology, and interconnected global R&D.

Just as Portugal once linked East and West through maritime trade, today's explorers map the invisible seas of the World Wide Web, carrying with them not only products but knowledge, clean technology, and shared progress. Air Liquide’s investment in Singapore is a perfect convergence of these eras: a journey across digital and geographic frontiers, driven by the same impulse that once launched caravels toward unknown horizons.

In this interconnected world, Singapore isn’t just a strategic location, and I will tell you more after my business trip and visit in July, it’s a landing point for future-focused innovation. And Air Liquide isn’t simply expanding; it’s sailing boldly into a new global chapter, where the wind in the sails comes from innovation, sustainability, and the courage to explore.

From compasses to code, from ocean charts to semiconductor blueprints, the spirit of exploration endures in our Portuguese soul, and companies like Air Liquide are proving that in the age of the WWW, the most valuable discoveries are still ahead.

Author

Paulo Lopes is a multi-talent Portuguese citizen who made his Master of Economics in Switzerland and studied law at Lusófona in Lisbon - CEO of Casaiberia in Lisbon and Algarve.

Paulo Lopes