Demand for specialty gases in the U.S. is forecast to rise 7 percent per year, to 2.15 billion dollars by 2005, significantly outpacing growth in the U.S. economy, according to a report from the Freedonia Group, Cleveland. Gains will be driven largely by the semiconductor market, in which rising semiconductor production will drive double-digit gains, making semiconductors the specialty gas industry's largest market by 2005, the report says. In response to this growing production, fluorine-based and silane-based specialty gases, as well as various other types, will experience rapid gains in that time frame.
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