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An invisible bottleneck: A helium shortage threatens the chip industry
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Without helium, leading chipmakers could struggle to keep production lines running, with cascading effects for semiconductor-powered devices.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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Meaghan Tobin and Xinyun Wu
TAIPEI – A month into the war in the Middle East, an unlikely shortage of an irreplaceable gas is looming over the global economy.
Helium is a gas that is odourless, colourless and lighter than air. It is also indispensable to manufacturing the computer chips that power artificial intelligence, an important driver of US markets and economic growth.
