EFC to invest $210 million in semiconductor chemicals

EFC Gases and Advanced Materials is the latest company to invest in production of chemicals for the US semiconductor industry. The Massachusetts-based firm has secured 79 hectares of land in McGregor, Texas, where it will build a $210 million plant for specialty gases and chemicals needed to make computer chips. Construction will start in early 2025. When completed, the facility will create about 120 permanent jobs, the firm says. It’s a big move in scale and scope for EFC, which is now mainly a distributor and processor of chemicals made by third parties. “A large amount of our products now we buy in a crude format and purify,” says Robert Keller, the firm’s director of strategic marketing and global partnerships. “The Texas plant is definitely our first inroad into synthesis.” Mark Thirsk, a partner at the electronic chemical research firm Linx Consulting, says the North American market for semiconductor fabrication