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Air Liquide

Helium-3, helium and Cryoconcept dilution refrigerators

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Where it fits in a quantum computer

Sells helium-3 with isotopic enrichment above 99.9% in 0.4–5 L cylinders with a 2–4 week lead time, naming quantum computing and dilution refrigerators among its uses; in Canada it purifies and distributes helium-3 that Laurentis Energy Partners extracts as a byproduct at the Darlington station in Ontario, and its US unit Airgas sells helium and helium-3. In Sept 2020 it acquired 80% of Cryoconcept, a CEA spin-off that builds dilution refrigerators reaching below 10 mK, which Air Liquide said looked particularly promising for quantum-computer research.

What the evidence establishes

Quantum-computing evidence

Disclosed: Air Liquide’s helium-3 pages name quantum computing and dilution refrigerators among its uses, and its Sept 24, 2020 release reports the 80% Cryoconcept acquisition.

An explicit quantum-computing product, design-in, supply role, program or partnership, such as a part sold for quantum computers or a named quantum-computer customer. For a maker, it means the company’s own quantum computers or processors. This does not establish revenue, market share, volumes or future sourcing.

Component roleHelium-3, helium and Cryoconcept dilution refrigerators
EvidenceDisclosed: Air Liquide’s helium-3 pages name quantum computing and dilution refrigerators among its uses, and its Sept 24, 2020 release reports the 80% Cryoconcept acquisition.
How we knowDisclosed The company’s own filing, release, annual report, product page or investor record describes the quantum-computing role. Where customers are unnamed, the listing says so.
Primary sourceAir Liquide — supporting disclosure
Company or official disclosure; vendor claims are attributed to their source.
Checked. This is the research review date, not the source publication or quote time.

Keep in perspective

Helium-3 volumes, prices and quantum customers are not disclosed, and the isotope comes from tritium decay, which limits supply. Cryoconcept had 14 employees at acquisition; its website no longer resolves and no current Air Liquide product page for its refrigerators was found, so today’s range and ownership stake were not verified beyond a LinkedIn listing as ‘an Air Liquide affiliate’.

Diversified business exposure. This describes the breadth or role of the business; it is not an investment rating. A quantum-computing product, design-in or partnership does not by itself establish material quantum revenue, market share, or future returns.

Connections to the assembly

These links explain the technology relationship. The model is illustrative and does not represent an actual manufacturer’s bill of materials.

Mixing chamber & still

The dilution unit. In the mixing chamber, helium-3 crossing from a concentrated into a dilute phase absorbs heat; the still above evaporates it off, and heat exchangers of sintered silver precool the returning stream.

Scope of the company links: The dilution unit is built by the refrigerator maker. ULVAC’s dilution refrigerator cools the University of Osaka’s all-Japanese superconducting quantum computer (running since July 28, 2025), and ULVAC is developing a 10 mK-class model to IBM’s specifications for launch in 2026; QuantumCTek’s ez-Q Fridge F500–F1500 are designed for 100- to 1,000-qubit superconducting machines; FormFactor sells the HPD Flatiron benchtop dilution refrigerator (30 mK); Nippon Sanso has sold e-Dilution refrigerators since 2003 and is developing a larger dilution stage under NEDO; Air Liquide acquired 80% of French maker Cryoconcept in 2020 (current range not verified); and Rigetti’s 10-K says Quanta Computer may develop dilution refrigerators for it under a 2025 collaboration. Private makers include Bluefors, Quantum Design Oxford (the former Oxford Instruments NanoScience), Maybell, Leiden Cryogenics, Zero Point Cryogenics and ICEoxford. Quanta is not mapped here: the collaboration allows statements of work, and Rigetti discloses no delivered refrigerator.

Helium-4 gas

Industrial helium-4, the working gas of the compressor and cold head and most of the dilution mixture. It is recovered from natural gas and delivered in high-pressure cylinders.

Scope of the company links: Helium-4 is the cryocooler’s working gas and most of the dilution mixture; a dry system does not boil off liquid helium but still needs pure gas to charge and top up. Mapped upstream: ExxonMobil (LaBarge, 20% of world supply per its 2022 page), Linde, Air Products and Air Liquide (global suppliers), Iwatani (about 50% of Japan’s market) and Nippon Sanso (which raised Japanese helium prices by 30% or more from July 2026). None names a quantum-computer customer for helium-4, and Chart Industries, now part of Baker Hughes, is not mapped.

Helium-3 mixture

The helium-3/helium-4 mixture that the dilution unit runs on, and the tank that stores it when the refrigerator is warm. Helium-3 is a rare isotope made mainly by tritium decay.

Scope of the company links: Helium-3 comes almost entirely from decaying tritium. The U.S. DOE Isotope Program sells helium-3 separated during tritium processing at the Savannah River Site, Ontario Power Generation’s Laurentis Energy Partners has extracted it from tritium stored at the Darlington CANDU station since 2021, and Russian government stocks were historically the other main source. Air Liquide distributes Laurentis’s helium-3 under a long-term agreement and sells it at over 99.9% isotopic purity for dilution refrigerators, Linde offers helium-3 among its isotopes, and Merck KGaA’s Sigma-Aldrich lists it in its catalog. Private Interlune has signed agreements to supply Bluefors, Maybell and the DOE from 2028 with helium-3 it plans to recover from the Moon and, with its Cold Capture process, from terrestrial helium. Cambridge Isotope Laboratories (Otsuka) lists no helium-3, and BWXT’s Kinectrics built an extraction skid but does not sell the gas.

Related research

Companies with overlapping sector exposure. Their products and evidence may differ; this is not a list of equivalent investments.

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