Air Products & Chemicals, Inc.

Air Products & Chemicals, Inc., commonly branded as Air Products, is a United States-based industrial-gases and chemicals company headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1940 by Leonard P. Pool, the company developed from an industrial-gas supplier into a global provider of atmospheric gases, process gases, specialty and performance materials, gas-production equipment, process technology, and onsite supply infrastructure. The company’s principal gases include oxygen, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, and syngas-related products. These materials are used in steelmaking, refining, chemical manufacturing, electronics fabrication, food preservation and freezing, healthcare, glass production, welding, metal fabrication, water treatment, and other industrial processes. Air Products supplies customers through cylinders, liquid bulk deliveries, packaged gases, onsite plants, and large-scale pipeline networks. Its pipeline systems are an important part of its operating model, particularly in industrial clusters where multiple customers receive continuous supplies from centralized production facilities. Air Products has also built a substantial engineering and equipment business. It designs and supplies air-separation units, hydrogen-production systems, gasification and synthesis-gas technologies, liquefied-natural-gas process technology, and other equipment used by industrial and energy customers. This combination of commodity gases, long-term supply contracts, proprietary technology, and infrastructure gives the company a business model that is more capital-intensive and operationally integrated than a conventional chemicals distributor. Hydrogen has become a major strategic focus. Air Products has long produced, distributed, and handled hydrogen for refining and chemical customers, but it has increasingly promoted low-carbon hydrogen, including hydrogen made with carbon capture and hydrogen associated with renewable-power projects. The company has announced and pursued large projects in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and other regions, while also participating in the development of hydrogen fueling and export infrastructure. Its projects have included proposed clean-hydrogen production, liquefaction, pipeline, ammonia, and maritime-fuel applications. Air Products is a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol APD. It operates internationally and competes with industrial-gas groups such as Linde and Air Liquide, as well as with regional gas suppliers and specialized technology providers. The company has periodically reshaped its portfolio through acquisitions, divestitures, and business separations. A significant strategic change occurred in 2017, when its materials technologies business was separated as Versum Materials, allowing Air Products to concentrate more heavily on industrial gases and related equipment. Versum Materials was subsequently acquired by Merck KGaA. The Air Products brand is therefore associated less with consumer products than with the physical infrastructure behind manufacturing and energy systems: gas plants, pipelines, storage, delivery fleets, engineering projects, and technical services. Its present identity centers on industrial gases, large-scale process technology, operational reliability, and the energy-transition applications of hydrogen and carbon-management systems.

Air Products was founded in 1940 by Leonard P. Pool in the United States. Its early development was based on supplying industrial gases and creating practical delivery systems for customers that needed gases at manufacturing sites. Rather than treating gases only as packaged commodities, the company developed an integrated model involving production equipment, storage, transportation, and technical support. During the postwar expansion of American manufacturing, Air Products grew alongside industries that consumed large volumes of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and other gases. Steel, chemicals, petroleum refining, glass, metals, food processing, healthcare, and electronics all became important applications. The company expanded beyond cylinders into bulk liquid distribution and onsite production, allowing it to build plants near customers and enter long-term supply arrangements. Pipeline systems later connected centralized production facilities with industrial customers in major manufacturing regions. Air Products became a public company and expanded internationally through new facilities, technology development, joint ventures, and acquisitions. Its engineering capabilities became increasingly important because industrial-gas businesses often require customized production plants and specialized separation, purification, liquefaction, and distribution systems. The company’s technology activities included air-separation equipment, hydrogen systems, gasification-related processes, and liquefied-natural-gas technology. The company also operated businesses outside its core industrial-gases franchise. Its Materials Technologies activities supplied specialty materials and chemicals, including products used by semiconductor and electronics manufacturers. In 2017, Air Products separated that business into an independent company, Versum Materials. The separation sharpened Air Products’ strategic focus on industrial gases, equipment, and related technologies. Versum Materials was later acquired by Merck KGaA in 2019. Under chief executive Seifi Ghasemi, who became CEO in 2014, Air Products emphasized operating discipline, portfolio focus, productivity, and large infrastructure projects. The company increasingly presented hydrogen as a central growth opportunity. Hydrogen was already a longstanding product for refinery and chemical customers, but the energy-transition debate expanded its potential uses in heavy transport, clean power, steel, ammonia, shipping, and industrial decarbonization. Air Products subsequently announced projects involving clean hydrogen, carbon capture, hydrogen liquefaction, export terminals, pipelines, and fueling networks. Its announced and proposed hydrogen projects have included developments in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and other markets. Some projects involve hydrogen produced with natural gas and carbon capture, while others are associated with renewable electricity or alternative low-carbon production routes. The company has also pursued opportunities involving clean ammonia and maritime fuel, reflecting the possibility that hydrogen may be transported or used through hydrogen-derived molecules. Air Products remains an infrastructure-heavy industrial company. Its activities span merchant gases delivered in cylinders or bulk tanks, onsite plants dedicated to individual customers, pipeline networks serving industrial clusters, specialty gases for advanced manufacturing, and engineering projects that can involve very large capital commitments. This model creates long-term customer relationships but also exposes the company to construction risk, energy costs, project delays, regulation, and changing demand for hydrogen and other energy-transition products. The company’s current identity is consequently built around industrial gases and process technology rather than the consumer-facing chemicals businesses that once formed part of its broader portfolio. It competes globally with Linde and Air Liquide, while also facing regional competition and project-specific rivals. Air Products’ brand is associated with large-scale technical infrastructure, continuous supply reliability, and the application of gas technology to industrial production and decarbonization.

1. 2020Air Products announces a major clean-energy investment in Saudi Arabia

   Air Products announced its participation in a large renewable-powered hydrogen and ammonia project at NEOM in Saudi Arabia.

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2. 2019Versum Materials acquired by Merck KGaA

   Merck KGaA completed its acquisition of Versum Materials, the former Air Products Materials Technologies business.

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3. 2017Materials Technologies separated

   Air Products completed the separation of its Materials Technologies business into an independent company, later known as Versum Materials.

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4. 2014Seifi Ghasemi becomes chief executive

   Seifi Ghasemi became chairman, president, and chief executive officer, beginning a period of portfolio focus and operating-efficiency initiatives.

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5. 1940Company founded

   Leonard P. Pool founded Air Products in the United States to serve industrial customers with gases and related equipment.

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A global industrial-gases and process-technology provider focused on reliable supply infrastructure, engineering-intensive customer solutions, and the expansion of hydrogen and other lower-carbon energy applications.

• Industrial gasesIndustrial gases

  Air Products supplies oxygen, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, and other gases through packaged, bulk, onsite, and pipeline delivery models. Customers use them in refining, chemicals, metals, food, healthcare, electronics, glass, water treatment, and general manufacturing. Supply arrangements range from cylinders and liquid deliveries to dedicated production plants and continuous pipeline service.

• HydrogenIndustrial and energy-transition gases

  Hydrogen is a longstanding Air Products business used chiefly in refining, chemicals, metals, food processing, electronics, and mobility applications. The company produces, liquefies, distributes, and supplies hydrogen through plants, pipelines, trailers, fueling infrastructure, and other systems. Its newer initiatives emphasize low-carbon hydrogen, carbon capture, renewable-powered production, clean ammonia, and export or maritime applications.

• Air-separation unitsProcess equipment and technology

  Air Products designs and supplies equipment that separates atmospheric air into oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and related products. These systems support both Air Products’ own supply network and customer-owned industrial facilities. They are used in steel, chemicals, refining, healthcare, electronics, energy, and other operations requiring dependable high-volume gas production.

• Liquefied-natural-gas technologyEnergy and process technology

  Air Products supplies liquefied-natural-gas process technology and equipment, including systems associated with gas liquefaction and cryogenic processing. These technologies are used in large energy projects and reflect the company’s broader engineering role in industrial gases, refrigeration, separation, and low-temperature process systems.

• Specialty and electronics gasesSpecialty chemicals and gases

  The company supplies high-purity and specialty gases for semiconductor fabrication, laboratories, research, analytical applications, and advanced manufacturing. These products require stringent purity, packaging, handling, and quality-control systems. The business differs from commodity gas supply because customers depend on precise specifications and consistent performance in sensitive production environments.

• 2020NEOM Green Hydrogen Company project

  Saudi Arabia · Middle East · Global hydrogen market

  Air Products announced an agreement to participate in a large renewable-powered hydrogen project at NEOM, with hydrogen intended for conversion into ammonia and export to international markets.

  Outcome. The project was developed as a flagship clean-hydrogen and green-ammonia initiative, with Air Products positioned as an investor, technology participant, and intended off-taker.

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• 2020Commitment to large-scale renewable hydrogen and ammoniaStrategy

  Air Products identified hydrogen and hydrogen-derived fuels as strategic growth areas linked to industrial decarbonization and the energy transition.

  What changed. The company announced participation in the NEOM renewable-powered hydrogen project and related green-ammonia export plans.

  Aftermath. The initiative strengthened Air Products’ profile as a large-scale clean-hydrogen developer and expanded its role beyond traditional merchant-gas supply.

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• 2017Separate Materials Technologies from Air ProductsStrategy

  Air Products reviewed its portfolio and determined that its Materials Technologies activities had a different strategic and operating profile from the core industrial-gases business.

  What changed. The company completed a separation that created an independent Materials Technologies company, later named Versum Materials.

  Aftermath. Air Products concentrated more heavily on industrial gases, equipment, and process technology. Versum Materials later became part of Merck KGaA.

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• 2022Air Products advances large-scale clean-hydrogen projects

  The company announced and developed major clean-hydrogen and energy-transition projects, including production and infrastructure proposals intended to serve industrial, mobility, export, and power markets.

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• 2017Air Products completes separation of its Materials Technologies business

  Air Products separated its Materials Technologies business into an independent company, later known as Versum Materials, as part of a strategy to focus the remaining company on industrial gases and related technologies.

  M&A
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1. Air Products company information
2. Air Products leadership
3. Air Products completes separation of Materials Technologies business
4. Air Products to invest in the world's largest green hydrogen project
5. Merck completes acquisition of Versum Materials
6. Air Products & Chemicals
7. Air Products advances large-scale clean-hydrogen projects