🚨⚡HELIUM SHORTAGE: THE INVISIBLE THREAT TO THE AI INDUSTRY ⚡🚨
The artificial intelligence industry is facing a little visible but extremely critical risk: the helium shortage. This gas, often underestimated, is essential in the production of semiconductors, especially in advanced processes like wafer cooling and EUV systems, where there are no real alternatives. The problem arises from a geopolitical shock.
Qatar, which produces about 33% of global helium, has seen its Ras Laffan facility shut down after the attacks on March 2.
To make matters worse, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has blocked exports, leaving a significant part of the global supply unusable.
The consequences are potentially enormous.
South Korea, heavily dependent on Qatar, risks facing a direct impact.
Companies like Samsung and SK Hynix, which produce over 60% of global memory and a large part of the HBM used in AI GPUs, could slow down production.
Even a 10-15% reduction in helium can lower factory efficiency by up to 20%, creating bottlenecks especially in HBM, which is already the main limit to the expansion of AI today.
If the crisis lasts for months, it won't just be a technological problem, but a systemic one.