As the war enters its fifth week, the tech industry is raising alarm about a growing shortage of helium, the odorless gas that makes birthday balloons lighter than air — and which, it turns out, is silently undergirding the AI boom.
Per the Wall Street Journal, when the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps effectively shut off travel through the Strait of Hormuz in response to US and Israeli aggression, they also cut off nearly a third of the world’s helium supply, most of which comes from Qatar.
That’s bad news for anybody building data centers right now. Per the WSJ, helium is a crucial component for cooling the machines responsible for building AI chips. With a tightening bottleneck on the critical gas, it’s likely that chip manufacturers will have to curb production as they ration their remaining gas.
LegoRedBrick on
Finally, some good news. Keep the Strait of Hormuz closed.
SolonEunomia on
I guess now they can blame something other than the entire industry being built on vaporware.
Bubba_Gump_Corp on
Oh no not the AI industry
randomwords83 on
It’s great this will hurt AI but not great that it can impact hospitals and medical equipment.
5 Comments
As the war enters its fifth week, the tech industry is raising alarm about a growing shortage of helium, the odorless gas that makes birthday balloons lighter than air — and which, it turns out, is silently undergirding the AI boom.
Per the Wall Street Journal, when the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps effectively shut off travel through the Strait of Hormuz in response to US and Israeli aggression, they also cut off nearly a third of the world’s helium supply, most of which comes from Qatar.
That’s bad news for anybody building data centers right now. Per the WSJ, helium is a crucial component for cooling the machines responsible for building AI chips. With a tightening bottleneck on the critical gas, it’s likely that chip manufacturers will have to curb production as they ration their remaining gas.
Finally, some good news. Keep the Strait of Hormuz closed.
I guess now they can blame something other than the entire industry being built on vaporware.
Oh no not the AI industry
It’s great this will hurt AI but not great that it can impact hospitals and medical equipment.