Taiwanese petrochemical producer Grand Pacific Petrochemical Corp (GPPC) and Japanese industrial gas manufacturer Air Water Inc (AWI) have each acquired a 35% stake in Taiwanese specialty gas maker Hong-Kuang Hi-Tech Corp, Focus Taiwan reports. The deal makes the two companies the largest shareholders in the supplier of electronic-grade gases to chip manufacturers.

The transaction takes GPPC into Taiwan's specialty materials market for semiconductors as the company works to move away from bulk petrochemicals, a business squeezed by weak margins across Asia, towards higher-value products. For Air Water, the investment deepens Japanese involvement in the supply chain that feeds Taiwan's chipmaking industry.

Senior executives from both companies met in Osaka on August 18 to discuss the partnership and further cooperation, GPPC said in a statement.

GPPC Chairman Sherie Chiu said the investment extended the company's core business rather than departing from it, building on its chemical industry knowledge and manufacturing capabilities alongside AWI.

Air Water builds industrial gas operations around its proprietary VSU gas plants and on-site supply technology, which the statement said are designed to secure stable supplies while cutting energy use, carbon emissions and transport costs. The Japanese group also supplies ultra-high-purity bulk gases, specialty gases, equipment and engineering services across the semiconductor, energy, healthcare and agri-food sectors.

Yoshihiro Senzai, president and executive officer of AWI, said the company treats the semiconductor industry as a key priority.

Hong-Kuang Hi-Tech produces, sells and analyses high-purity electronic-grade specialty gases in Taiwan, serving wafer manufacturers as well as the solar and display industries. Its products include fluorocarbons, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide and fluorine-nitrogen mixtures used in chip production processes.

GPPC has separately bought a 23.4% stake in i-TRANS Express Co Ltd, a logistics provider specialising in hazardous chemicals for the wafer manufacturing supply chain, covering transport, warehousing, transshipment and distribution.

Taiwanese private equity firm CDIB Capital Group, an investor in the GPPC-AWI venture, helped put the cross-border deal together, according to GPPC. CDIB President Melanie Nan said the firm has kept a long-term investment focus on semiconductors and advanced manufacturing while expanding into Silicon Valley, Japan and artificial intelligence.