LONDON, 2025 — Claritas Intelligence has published its global market report on helium expansion turbines, estimating the market at USD 1.12 billion in 2025 and projecting growth to USD 1.82 billion by 2033, a 6.4% CAGR over the 2025–2033 forecast period. The study covers historical data from 2019 and benchmarks its model against industrial gas sector revenues reported by Linde plc (USD 33.99B, FY2025) and Air Products (USD 12.04B, FY2025).
The single strongest structural driver is the build-out of green and blue hydrogen liquefaction infrastructure. Scaling hydrogen production to meet IRA Section 45V credit thresholds and EU RED III compliance targets requires liquefaction capacity for export and mobility applications, and helium Brayton-cycle expansion turbines remain the reference technology for large-scale liquid hydrogen production above 10 tonnes per day. Over 1,090 OpenAlex-indexed publications on helium-cycle cryogenics have appeared since 2023 alone, signaling intensifying R&D commercialization pressure on cycle efficiency. Alongside hydrogen, sub-4 K cryostat requirements for quantum computing buildouts by IBM, Google, and sovereign quantum programs are growing faster than any other single application segment; the capital intensity of those facilities makes turbine procurement relatively price-inelastic. Defense and hypersonics testing infrastructure, including altitude simulation systems requiring high-enthalpy helium expansion, rounds out the demand picture, supported by materials research programs at institutions such as Johns Hopkins (307 citations recorded in 2024).
Asia Pacific holds the largest regional share, estimated at approximately 34% in 2025 on the Claritas model, and is simultaneously the fastest-growing region. Chinese NDRC-backed LNG and hydrogen infrastructure capital expenditure and South Korean semiconductor fab cooling demand are the primary contributors. Linde and Air Products, the two largest buyers of helium expansion turbine systems globally, are both expanding tolling-model asset portfolios that embed long-term turbine procurement into service agreement structures, concentrating revenue in fewer but larger, bankable projects. The report notes that turbine systems priced above USD 2 million per unit are increasingly financed through long-term tolling agreements rather than merchant spot contracts, compressing IRR sensitivity to helium spot-price swings under downside scenarios.
The report also flags a structural supply risk that has not materially improved between 2023 and 2024: roughly 40% of global helium output traces to fewer than five geological sources, sustaining a cost floor for turbine operators dependent on commodity-grade feed gas. A countervailing development is the adoption of AI-driven predictive maintenance in cryogenic turbine operations, where vibration and acoustic signature analysis is extending mean time between bearing replacements and reducing costly unplanned cold-box warm-up events. The report's base case suggests that levelized cost of storage improvement from reduced O&M may outpace nameplate efficiency gains over 2026–2030.
"The bullish consensus on this market tends to focus on unit volume from hydrogen liquefaction, but the more defensible revenue story is concentration: fewer, larger systems with high per-unit contract values and long-duration service agreements. The marginal turbine sold into mid-scale hydrogen applications will face growing competition from neon-helium and pure neon cycle alternatives, so investors should stress-test volume assumptions carefully against what the cycle efficiency literature is actually showing."
— Priyanka Deshmukh, Senior Analyst, Claritas Intelligence
Key companies covered in the report include Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Linde plc, Cryostar SAS, Barber-Nichols LLC, Atlas Copco AB, Brooks Automation (Azenta Life Sciences), Turbochem Technologies Inc., Messer Group GmbH, Air Liquide S.A., Chart Industries, Inc., Hangyang Co., Ltd., and Nikkiso Cryo, Inc.
About Claritas Intelligence: Claritas Intelligence is a global market intelligence publisher providing data-driven research across energy, industrials, technology, and life sciences sectors. Its reports are used by strategy teams, investors, and procurement leaders to support capital allocation and competitive positioning decisions.
The full analysis, including segmentation, regional breakdowns, forecasts, and company profiles, is available in the Helium Expansion Turbines Market Report.
“The global helium expansion turbines market is estimated at USD 1.12B in 2025 and, on Claritas Intelligence's base case, reaches USD 1.82B by 2033 at a 6.4% CAGR, driven by hydrogen liquefaction and quantum computing cryogenic demand.”
Priyanka Deshmukh
Team Lead – Energy & Natural Resources