Helium deals ease shortages
Samsung and SK Hynix secured long‑term helium supply contracts from Linde and Air Products, resolving a near‑term 'helium crisis' that had tightened prices and risked etch and cooling operations at fabs. The contracts should stabilise helium availability for about four months and reduce immediate production risk for semiconductor fabs. (x.com)
A chip factory can spend billions on lithography machines and still get tripped up by a gas most people know from party balloons. This week, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix reportedly locked in longer-term helium supply from Linde and Air Products after a sudden shortage rattled the industry. (digitimes.com) Helium shows up in chipmaking because it moves heat fast and does not react with the wafer. Linde says helium is used across semiconductor processes, and Air Products sells ultra-high-purity helium specifically for semiconductor manufacturing lines. (linde-engineering.com) (airproducts.com) One of helium’s jobs is wafer cooling. IDTechEx says helium is used throughout the manufacturing line, especially for wafer cooling, where there are no viable alternatives in some steps. (idtechex.com) The scare started outside Korea. EE Times reported that South Korea imported 64.7% of its helium from Qatar in 2025, so any disruption in Qatar hits Samsung Electronics and SK hynix harder than it hits chipmakers with different sourcing maps. (eetimes.com) Qatar matters because helium is pulled out during natural gas processing, not mined on its own like copper or iron. AGBI reported that shutdowns at Ras Laffan in Qatar put about 30% of Qatar’s helium volumes at risk in 2026, equal to about 11% of global supply. (agbi.com) That is why this felt like a factory problem and a geopolitical problem at the same time. Forbes reported on April 7 that the helium squeeze was threatening the advanced semiconductor processes used to make chips for the artificial intelligence boom. (forbes.com) The fix was not finding new helium overnight. The Elec reported that Linde and Air Products, using helium feedstock sourced from the United States and then refined for semiconductor use, signed additional long-term agreements with Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. (thelec.net) Those two suppliers matter because they already sit deep inside the chip-gas business. Linde says it runs one of the world’s largest helium processing plants in Ulysses, Kansas, and ships liquid helium through more than 50 transfill facilities, while Air Products says its semiconductor business is built around ultra-high-purity carrier gases and delivery systems. (linde-gas.com) (airproducts.com) The deal does not mean helium is suddenly abundant again. TrendForce reported that Samsung Electronics and SK hynix accepted higher helium prices to stabilize supply, which is what companies do when the cost of stopping a fabrication line is worse than the cost of the gas. (trendforce.com) For now, the immediate danger looks smaller than it did a week ago. DigiTimes reported that the new contracts should keep helium availability stable for roughly four months, which buys the memory makers time while the wider market figures out whether this was a short shock or the start of a longer rewrite of helium supply chains. (digitimes.com)
