Iran bombed Qatar's helium plant. 33% of the global supply is gone.
Here's who's bleeding right now:
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South Korea — 64.7% of all helium imported from Qatar ($226.9M). Samsung and SK Hynix fabs on a countdown clock.
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Taiwan — home to TSMC, makes 18% of global chips. Said "monitoring situation." Translation: quietly panicking.
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Japan — major chip fab and MRI manufacturer hub. First to run out if Qatar outage extends beyond 60 days.
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Singapore — regional semiconductor hub. Heavy Qatar helium dependency flagged by Scientific American.
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India — imported helium from Qatar for thousands of hospital MRI machines. MRI costs already rising, scan delays starting.
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Germany — hosts major industrial gas distributors (Linde HQ). Helium spot prices up 100% — Linde, Air Liquide rationing supply.
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United States — federal helium reserve running down for years. US chip fabs still exposed. HP, Dell, Lenovo warned enterprise buyers: 15-20% price hike incoming.
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United Kingdom — NHS hospitals with MRI machines facing supply tightness. No domestic helium production.
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France — Air Liquide headquartered here but cannot produce new helium. Distribution-only country.
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China — imports helium for chip fabs and MRI. Could accelerate its own helium exploration in Siberian region (strategic play).
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Australia — Exporter, one of few alternatives. Helium production from Amadeus Basin, but NOT enough to fill Qatar's gap.
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Qatar — the source of 33% of the world's supply. Offline since March 2. CEO says 14% of capacity PERMANENTLY damaged for up to 5 years.
12 countries exposed. 33% of the global supply is gone overnight. Zero substitutes. No restart timeline.
(The above is extracted from X user Dr Seong Woo Choi)
How will this pan out with Qatar taking up to 5 years to restore production? The rippling effects may not be felt now, but they will continue to grow until they hit us in price hikes, affect the MRI machine, and reduce chip production.
Let us monitor as the impact can be energy rationing, blackouts, famines and more.
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