With Chinese manufacturers accelerating global expansion and domestic industries moving toward higher-value, greener and more technology-intensive production, Yingde Gases is stepping up its overseas push while investing in innovation and broadening its business beyond traditional gas supply.

The Shanghai-headquartered industrial gas supplier sees Southeast Asia as a key market for its overseas expansion, as an increasing number of Chinese businesses establish production capacity in the region, said Huang Dewei, chairman of Yingde Gases.

Yingde Gases' venture into Southeast Asia is part of a broader strategy to build localized capabilities outside China and serve a wider range of manufacturers investing in the region.

Rather than simply replicating its domestic gas supply business overseas, the company aims to develop a broader service platform spanning equipment, engineering, operations and maintenance, and other industrial solutions, allowing it to participate more deeply in the region's industrial development.

The company established NovaAir as its overseas brand in 2022 and has since secured projects in Malaysia and Thailand, building a regional presence that combines Yingde Gases' technical and operational expertise with local market capabilities.

"Going global has become a major trend," Huang said, noting that many of Yingde Gases' customers in sectors such as steel, chemicals and new energy have expanded into overseas markets in recent years.

Having built deep partnerships with them in China, Yingde Gases is following in their footsteps to support their expansion.

Southeast Asia offers favorable conditions for the company's expansion given its proximity to China, close manufacturing links with Chinese companies and continued industrial upgrading, he added.

Malaysia has become Yingde Gases' main operating base in Southeast Asia. In late 2023, through NovaAir, Yingde Gases made its first major investment by acquiring three air separation units from Alliance Steel located in the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park in Pahang. In the same year, a 300-metric-ton-per-day liquid air separation unit investment decision was also concluded.

The latter, located in UMW High-Value Manufacturing Park, was fully commissioned in August this year and produces air gases including high-purity oxygen to serve the local market.

The company aims to become a preferred industrial gas partner for Chinese manufacturers moving abroad and its immediate priority is to optimize operations and target a capacity utilization rate of more than 90 percent within two years for the liquid ASU.

"Having a reliable, trusted and large-scale partner like NovaAir gives us the flexibility to expand the range of services we offer and helps us better manage supply risk as demand grows," said Nik Ahmed Nerang Nik Rithauddeen, chief executive of Gas Pantai Timur, one of NovaAir's earliest customers in Malaysia.

Over the next three to five years, Yingde Gases plans to expand investment in Malaysia and deepen partnerships with local companies, with the goal of making NovaAir one of the top three players in Malaysia's industrial gas arena. Yingde Gases also plans to explore opportunities in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia as its Southeast Asian business develops.

Huang said due to the nature of industrial gases, expanding overseas primarily means investing and producing locally as the products are distance sensitive.

"Gas is bulky but relatively low in unit value, so it is best produced and consumed locally," he said, adding that market access and foreign investment policies are therefore more relevant to the company's expansion than tariffs on cross-border goods trade.

Although air separation is a mature industry, companies need continuous innovation in applications and operations to maintain their competitiveness, while also enabling manufacturing technology breakthroughs at the customers' end, Huang said.

Yingde Gases' research and development strategy focuses on building differentiation, expanding the boundaries of its business and preparing for future needs.

The company's research spans gas applications, process control, equipment and plant optimization, as well as sustainability-related areas such as decarbonization, carbon capture and utilization, resource recovery and recycling, and wastewater treatment.

Energy is one of the biggest cost factors in air separation, making efficiency a key focus for the industry, Huang said. Yingde Gases is applying artificial intelligence and advanced control systems to optimize production and reduce energy consumption.

The Asia-Pacific region has been a major contributor to the expansion of the global industrial gas market over the past five years. China accounted for 14.6 percent of the global market in 2025, making it the world's second-largest industrial gas market, with its growth rate outpacing other major markets, according to the Beijing-based China Industrial Gases Industry Association.

The transformation of China's manufacturing sector is also opening new opportunities for Yingde Gases, particularly in the semiconductors and electronics sectors.

Semiconductor manufacturing may require specialty gases and places far more stringent requirements on purity, reliability and technical support than many traditional industries, Huang said.

Chinese gas suppliers historically lacked both the technological capabilities and project track records required by semiconductor manufacturers, but that situation has changed rapidly over the past five years, he added.

Yingde Gases is upgrading its product portfolio, service model and production capabilities to tap this market, developing systems to deliver ultrahigh-purity gases, extract rare gases, and build specialty gas blending and testing capabilities, while transitioning from gas-only supply toward integrated services covering gas supplies, operations and maintenance services, as well as engineering advisory services and technical support.

"The trend is for Chinese manufacturers to increasingly support China's own semiconductor and electronics industries across the value and supply chains," Huang said. "Electronic gases are also undergoing this transition, and we are part of it."

Beyond high-tech manufacturing, Huang sees another major opportunity in breaking down traditional boundaries between industrial sectors.

Rather than optimizing gas, energy, chemicals or environmental services separately, companies can generate greater efficiencies by examining how different industrial processes interact, he said.

That thinking is behind Yingde Gases' expansion beyond gas supply into energy services, wastewater treatment and other integrated services for industrial parks.

Traditionally, Yingde Gases could enter an industrial park by building a centralized gas facility and air gases supply network. But industrial parks also require steam, wastewater treatment, energy and environmental services.

Providing these services through an integrated model can lower costs, improve energy utilization, reduce wastage and give Yingde Gases opportunities to deepen relationships with customers, Huang said.

An initial wastewater treatment project, for example, could lead to cooperation in energy or industrial gases as an industrial park develops.

"We hope to provide one-stop services," Huang said, adding that the model builds on Yingde Gases' accumulated engineering expertise, operating experience and customer relationships.

This approach is also in line with broader national priorities under the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), which emphasizes green and low-carbon growth, industrial upgrading and the development of emerging industries.

Huang said the changes underway in the industrial gas sector mirror a broader transformation across Chinese industry, as companies seek to improve efficiency through technology, scale and better management.

"Every company is running," he said. "The direction is toward lower costs, higher efficiency and sustainability."