Qatar Helium Shutdown Puts Chip Supply Chain On a Two-Week Clock (tomshardware.com)
- Reference: 0180973698
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/03/13/190216/qatar-helium-shutdown-puts-chip-supply-chain-on-a-two-week-clock
- Source link: https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/qatar-helium-shutdown-puts-chip-supply-chain-on-a-two-week-clock
> Helium consultant Phil Kornbluth, speaking at a Gasworld webinar on March 4, said that if the outage extends beyond roughly two weeks, industrial gas distributors could be forced to relocate cryogenic equipment and revalidate supplier relationships, a process that could stretch over months regardless of when Qatari output resumes.
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> South Korea is among the most exposed countries, which, according to the Korea International Trade Association, imported 64.7% of its helium from Qatar in 2025. The country relies heavily on helium imports to cool silicon wafers during fabrication and is understood to have no viable substitute.
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> The country's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources has reportedly launched an investigation into supply and demand for 14 semiconductor materials and equipment types with high dependence on Middle Eastern sources, Nikkei reported on Wednesday. Bromine, which is used in circuit formation, is another big concern, with South Korea sourcing 90% of its imports from Israel, also party to the ongoing conflict in Iran.
[1] https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/qatar-helium-shutdown-puts-chip-supply-chain-on-a-two-week-clock
[2] https://asia.nikkei.com/business/tech/semiconductors/iran-war-sparks-helium-supply-concerns-for-south-korea-chip-sector
[3] https://www.gasworld.com/story/helium-shortages-becoming-more-likely/2174147.article/
Suck It China (Score:2)
U.S. Helium prices about to moon, Yo.
Cost of Information + Law of Demeter (Score:1, Offtopic)
Another indicator that the Law of Demeter is gaining importance in supply chains.
[1]https://www.scry.llc/2025/12/2... [scry.llc]
"Law Of Demeter is the design response to the deterioration of fiat money (which is a deterioration in altruistic intention, ie "empathy") and a likely foundation pattern for the next Kondratieff (Credit) cycle."
Cost of Information "Assume the declining cost of information (COI) has driven economic activity for fifty years. Then the stagnation or increase of COI could be disasterous for the econ
[1] https://www.scry.llc/2025/12/20/ai-fiat-and-law-of-demeter/
Re: (Score:1)
I lost IQ points reading that drivel. He gets wooish around the point he claims Law of Demeter is related to money and accelerates from there.
Not surprised (Score:1)
Side effect from the LNG hit. Clever method, I knew Nat Gas had helium in it and I guess they cool it a bit more to get helium separated out during the cooling of the nat gas to go liquid. US still in the LNG biz, so I imagine they are also doing a helium extraction. As slashbotagent says, prices about to sky rocket. Great, another memory price increase incoming.
Said... (Score:3)
> "Helium consultant Phil Kornbluth, speaking at a Gasworld webinar on March 4, said"
But did he say it in an unusually high-toned/comical voice?
Re: (Score:2)
Interestingly, while helium make you sound like Mickey Mouse, another common semiconductor gas - sulfur hexafluoride - makes you sound like Darth Vader.
Helium can be re-used? (Score:2)
It seems that Helium can be re-used if the original use is very careful, so that it is not lost.
Re: (Score:3)
Industrial and medical uses of helium require very high purity. What gets used in party balloons is basically the impure waste left over from processing (that has no feasible process to purify sufficiently for other use).
Re: (Score:2)
That's why we need to be mining the moon