Hidden supply risk: helium
A new YouTube video flags that a helium shortage could become a constraint on semiconductor manufacturing, cryogenics and specialised research by limiting critical cooling and process gas supplies. The briefing frames helium as a ‘hidden dependency’ that could show up through longer lead times and higher costs rather than as an immediate plant shutdown. (youtube.com)
Helium looks like a niche gas, but it sits inside chipmaking tools, magnetic resonance imaging scanners and low-temperature labs — and tighter supply usually shows up first as delays and higher prices. (usgs.gov) In 2024, the United States sold an estimated 81 million cubic meters of Grade-A and gaseous helium worth about $1.1 billion, according to the United States Geological Survey. The same report says controlled atmospheres, fiber optics and semiconductors accounted for 15% of domestic use, while magnetic resonance imaging accounted for 17%. (usgs.gov) Helium is not burned for energy. Chip plants use high-purity helium as an inert gas and heat-transfer gas in photolithography, wafer cooling, vacuum chambers and cleaning steps, the Semiconductor Industry Association told the United States Geological Survey in a 2023 filing. (semiconductors.org) That filing said many of those uses have no ready substitute and helium cannot be stockpiled easily at the plant level because stored volumes steadily boil off or leak away. The industry group said even a disruption of a few days could slow semiconductor production. (semiconductors.org) The medical side works on the same physics. Liquid helium reaches about minus 269 degrees Celsius, cold enough to keep superconducting coils inside magnetic resonance imaging scanners carrying electricity with almost no resistance. (siemens-healthineers.com) Siemens Healthineers said in March 2024 that older magnetic resonance imaging designs could require as much as 1,500 liters of liquid helium, while its newer MAGNETOM Flow system uses a closed circuit with 0.7 liters. That redesign cuts exposure to helium deliveries, but it does not remove helium from the system entirely. (siemens-healthineers.com) The supply chain changed in June 2024, when the Bureau of Land Management completed the sale of the Federal Helium System to Messer under the Helium Stewardship Act of 2013. The federal reserve near Amarillo, Texas, had anchored United States helium logistics for decades. (blm.gov) The United States Geological Survey said the United States imported helium mainly from Qatar, Canada and Algeria in 2020 through 2023, with Qatar supplying 40% and Canada 36%. That leaves downstream users exposed not just to domestic plant outages, but also to shipping, geopolitics and maintenance problems abroad. (usgs.gov) The same agency’s 2025 outlook said helium supply risk is shaped by concentrated production and by the fact that downstream industries depend on a small number of countries and facilities. That is why helium problems usually arrive as procurement headaches before they become a headline shortage. (usgs.gov) Manufacturers have spent years trying to use less helium and recover more of it. Lam Research said in 2021 that chipmaking involves many helium-heavy steps and that equipment companies were already redesigning tools to reduce consumption. (newsroom.lamresearch.com) That makes helium a hidden dependency rather than a simple on-or-off switch. If supply tightens again, the first signs are more likely to be longer lead times, surcharge-heavy contracts and costlier operation of chip tools, scanners and cryogenic labs. (usgs.gov)
