Iwatani will construct consecutively new helium centers in Ibaraki Prefecture and Xian, China.

Domestically the existing two footholds in Tsukuba and Yokosuka will be integrated into a new helium center to be newly constructed in Ami Industrial Complex in Ibaraki Prefecture. The center will be completed in April, 2019. The center is aimed to enhance the production efficiency with the sluggish circumstance of demand in the background.

The center to be built in Xian China is intended to meet the demand in the inland area where there are substantially increasing advancements by the industries related to optical fiber, semiconductor and MRI.

Iwatani aims for further expansion of business in the field of helium where the company is in a strong position through its capital investments in concert with the market circumstances at home and abroad.

The domestic helium market has not yet recovered in terms of consumption as liquid helium for MRI stays dull despite the gas helium for optical fiber and semiconductor sells at a good pace.

Iwatani has so far been carrying out the business with two helium centers of Tsukuba and Yokosuka as bases in the Kanto District, but both of the facilities have got aged with lowering efficiency and have turned out to be replaced this time.


The new center is going to be equipped with a boil-off gas recycling facility for trans-filling of LHe to reduce the trans-filling loss down to one eighth. Furthermore, the production capacity will be increased to 1.3 times of the total of two existing bases aiming for expansion and a larger market share. In future, the company will put in sight a more streamlined distribution by means of a high-pressure filling at 30 MPa from the current 20 MPa.

In the premises where the new helium center is installed, Iwatani has an idea to build up an effective use model of helium attracting users of helium including recycling.

Xian China helium center, on the other hand, is the second base in China following the one in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, and is scheduled to be completed in February 2019. Optical fiber and semiconductor plants are coming into the region, and the demand for LHe for MRI is also expected to increase.

In the past, inland transportation has been applied for the supply to the region from Jiaxing, and the new construction is now aimed to enhance efficiency of the container transportation and further expansion of the local sales.

In Xian like in Japan, as there is an unused premise having an area of about 10 thousand square meter, it is also considered to take measures to attract users who are expected to consume a large volume of helium.