Producer
Iceblick Ltd (Ukraine)
Iceblick Ltd (Odessa, Ukraine) was the world's largest semiconductor-grade neon producer by volume before February 2022 — producing approximately 15-30% of global semiconductor-grade neon from crude neon sourced as a byproduct of Ukrainian steel production. Iceblick also produces krypton, xenon, and argon for industrial and specialty gas markets. The company's neon purification capacity is located in Odessa, which was not occupied during Russia's 2022 invasion but was subjected to missile attacks and port blockades affecting operations. Iceblick has resumed partial operations post-2022 but the Ukrainian steel industry (a primary crude neon source) has been severely reduced by the war, limiting crude neon feedstock availability.
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Semiconductor-Grade Neon
55%Krypton & Xenon
30%Argon & Industrial Gases
15%
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Did you know2022
Iceblick's neon is simultaneously used in: (1) semiconductor chip lithography — purified neon is the carry gas and laser medium in KrF excimer lasers used to pattern chips at TSMC, Samsung, and Intel at 193nm wavelength; (2) commercial neon lighting — neon signs (gas discharge tubes in argon, neon, or helium-neon mixtures) use industrial-grade neon; and (3) energy-efficient window insulation — krypton and xenon from the same Iceblick operation are used as insulating gases in triple-pane low-E windows. Before Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine became widely known as a semiconductor supply chain shock, virtually no chip industry analyst had noticed that a Ukrainian industrial gas company in Odessa was part of the critical path for global chip production. The February 2022 invasion brought instant recognition: Iceblick and Ingas together had supplied 45-54% of global semiconductor-grade neon, and the semiconductor world had never audited this dependency.
Reuters ↗Origin2023
Iceblick Ltd. was established in Odessa, Ukraine in the 1990s from Soviet-era industrial gas separation infrastructure co-located with Ukraine's steel mills. Neon — at 18 parts per million in air — is orders of magnitude more concentrated in the waste gas streams of blast furnaces, where large volumes of air are processed during iron ore smelting. Soviet industrial planners recognized that Ukraine's vast integrated steel mills (at Kryvyi Rih, Mariupol, Zaporizhzhia) were effectively neon concentration facilities — the blast furnace operations coincidentally extracted enough crude neon to support a global semiconductor supply. Iceblick and Ingas (Mariupol) built industrial neon purification capacity specifically to serve the semiconductor lithography market, where purified neon (>99.999% pure) is the carrier and laser medium for KrF excimer lasers. Ukraine's steel industry made it the world's dominant neon purifier by geographic accident of process chemistry.
Iceblick Ltd. ↗