The global helium storage is a direct threat to the chipmaking supply chain — disruption impacts critical processes, high-capacity HDDs, and alternative supplies are plagued by delays

Iranian drone and missile strikes hit QatarEnergy's Ras Laffan Industrial City on February 28, knocking offline one of the world's two plants capable of producing semiconductor-grade helium — and removing roughly 30% of global supply from the market in a matter of days.

QatarEnergy halted all production at the site two days later, declaring force majeure on March 2, while the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed to Western commercial shipping since the conflict in Iran began. Helium prices have surged 40% to 100%, and the semiconductor industry is counting down the weeks until existing stockpiles run dry.

Qatar produced approximately 63 million cubic meters of helium in 2025, constituting a third of the roughly 190 million cubic meters produced globally, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. QatarEnergy has reported "extensive" damage to its facilities and announced a 14% annual cut to helium exports, though the actual disruption is far larger given the shipping blockade.

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Phil Kornbluth, president of Kornbluth Helium Consulting, said during a Gasworld webinar that a best-case scenario would see some production resume within six weeks, but called that outcome "highly unlikely." Some industry analysts expect it will take Qatar around five years to regain lost capacity.

Chip fabs can't run without helium

(Image credit: TSMC)

Helium performs at least four key functions in semiconductor fabrication, and none have viable substitutes.

The most important of these is cooling: ASML's EUV lithography machines, which are the only tools capable of printing features below 7nm, generate enormous heat during operation, and helium's thermal conductivity and chemical inertness make it the only gas suitable for cooling these systems without contamination risk. Beyond EUV, helium cooling of silicon wafers during ion implantation can affect the precision of dopant placement, even for fractional temperature variations.

Helium is also the standard gas for leak detection in vacuum chambers because its atoms are small enough to pass through microscopic defects that other gases cannot, making it irreplaceable for verifying sealed process environments. In thin-film deposition, helium serves as an inert carrier gas for reactive chemicals.

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