US industrial gases producer Air Products has started up on a new oxygen and nitrogen plant in China’s southern Guangdong province, supporting a unnamed “leading global manufacturer of high-tech  displays” under a long-term contract. The company said the state-of-the-art cryogenic air separation plant capable of producing both gaseous oxygen and nitrogen comes with an innovative modular design that allows for easy field installation and requires less land space.

Air Products said the investment represents an ongoing commitment to help China to upgrade industrial development under its 13th Five-Year-Plan and Made in China 2025 strategy. The Guangdong government is implementing the Intelligent Manufacturing Development Plan of Guangdong (2015-2025) to accelerate the transformation of the manufacturing sector from simply manufacturing to innovating.

The gases producer said it expects increased demand from traditional core industries, including electronics, glass, papermaking, automobiles, pharmaceuticals and food and beverage, as well as emerging segments such as information and communications, advanced fabrication, new materials and biotechnology.

One of the first multinational industrial gas corporations to enter China, Air Products established its first plant at Shenzhen in 1987. Currently, it has around 2,500 employees in the People’s Republic, along with a number of regional capabilities including engineering capabilities, a cryogenic equipment manufacturing center, a technology center, a strategic sourcing center and an IT application solutions center, as well as over 130 production facilities.

In Guangdong, the US company operates supply network across the Pearl River Delta to support what it says is growing demand from over 30 industries. It delivers small to very large volumes of gas through different supply modes including on-site, liquid bulk, its CryoEase service and cylinders. In 2016 it added a packaged gases plant at Dongguan.