Founded in 1940, Air Products and Chemicals Inc. is one of the largest suppliers of hydrogen and helium in the world. Based in Houston, Texas, it is one of the largest U.S. distributors of packaged industrial, medical, and specialty gases and associated hard goods, such as welding equipment. The firm supplies oxygen, nitrogen, argon, helium and hydrogen as well as certain medical and specialty gases to a wide variety of industrial and medical customers. Air Products and Chemicals Inc. serves customers in industrial, energy, technology and healthcare markets across the world.