alt Hacker NewsQatar helium shutdown puts chip supply chain on a two-week clock
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The US just finished divesting itself from its strategic helium reserve in 2024 due to the "Helium Stewardship Act of 2013"[1]
But, now we have a strategic bitcoin reserve.
[1] https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/527
Freight rate volatility is one of the most underappreciated risks in physical product businesses. During the 2021-2022 shipping crisis, ocean freight from China to the US West Coast hit $20k+ per container — a 10x jump that wiped margins for importers who hadn't hedged. Air freight as a backup is worth keeping in your model even if you never use it; knowing your break-even point at air rates tells you a lot about product viability.
It is not just oil and helium supply chains, it is nitrogen fertilizers also, and in a season when they are needed the most:
https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/nitrogen-ammonia-a...
Step 1: Put the helium in a blimp Step 2: Fly around the straight and over to Taiwan Step 3: Pump it into the chip factory
There you go, solved it.
I remember hearing somewhere on this site that medical imaging got pretty good at building systems that recycle helium. Does chip manufacturing not do this or are the losses at their scale are still large enough that you need a substantial constant supply?
It's a good time to be Messer.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/us-just-sold-heli...
Tech divers are also probably gonna be having a Bad Time. Helium mixes are already pretty expensive, I assume this will make it far worse.
Aren’t there huge stockpiles of helium in the US? I can buy party sized tanks at Target or big tanks at the usual places like welding supply places.
Great timing that the US recently sold its strategic helium supply.
Completely self inflicted at the request of Israel.
The people trump relies on to make his decisions (if he's making them) include tons of far right accelerationists; so they'd be happy to watch modern society fall.
Helium output from the Persian Gulf is about 5 million cubic meters a month. Which (liquefied) is about 40 truckloads a week
This article is just hysteria
This situation would be laughable if the consequences weren't so dire.
I have problems adequately stating just how incompetent and ill-thought out this entire misadventure was. I say this because everything that's happened has been completely foreseeable and foreseen, including the ability of Iran to retaliate by closing the Strait of Hormuz.
This has been something many militaries around the world have planned scenarios for. Word has it any warnings from allies, the NSC and the Joint Chiefs were just completely ignored. And those estimates probably underestimated how numerous and effective Iranian SRBMs and Shahed drones are.
Beyond direct impacts on crude oil, refined oil products and natural gas, there are secondary effects such as ~30 of the world's fertilizer goes through the Strait. Helium from Qatar is an issue but at least there are other sources for Helium, being pretty much any natural gas well so equipped to capture helium.
We are the bad guys.
Will this crash the AI bubble?
This is, according to Hegseth, just something they planned for, since they knew what was going to happen.
It's almost like war is a bad thing.
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Somewhat tangential question - for the "Just Stop Oil" folks - is it the extraction of oil that is the problem, or the burning of it? If the former, then we have an opportunity to investigate more renewable sources.
Remember all the e/acc people telling us to vote for Trump? Some mea-culpas are in order.
If Iran hits AI data centers (without people in it of course), 70% of the world would cheer. If there's one thing hated more than a theocratic regime ... /s
Thanks DJT, I am tired of winning, can we become losers again? /s
Lindsay Graham has an easy solution to this unnecessary conflict: send your sons and daughters.
This whole administration is such a fiasco.
Do you remember this quote from wheel of time?
"Let the lord of chaos rule" ...
Qatar is probably intentionally shutting down production of gas and oil in order to pressure the US to stop, independently of Iranian attacks.
In that respect they may be bombed by Iran but they have the same interests
I've developed a new fear of my 2025 desktop PC being damaged by a power surge or something, because it would cost at least $2K more to replace than I paid for it, assuming I can even find parts now. Compared to the rest of my adult life when I used to secretly pray for something to fail so I would have a reason to upgrade.