In a surprising move, China has decided to restrict global helium supplies. The export ban appears to be blanket, but given China's limited market share of the global helium industry, it is unlikely to cause significant disruption in the semiconductor fabrication industry. Estimates from the US Geological Survey suggest that the US is the world's leading helium producer and is followed by Qatar, Russia, Algeria, and Canada.
China's Helium Export Ban Could Create Tightness In Global Semiconductor Fabrication Industry
Helium is used in several key phases of semiconductor fabrication. These include different categories of deposition, cooling the wafers, and etching. Additionally, the gas also performs the key role of cooling the advanced extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines in the first stage of the manufacturing process.
As a result, a disruption in the helium market can have serious implications for chip production at a time when demand is already high due to the multi-billion-dollar artificial intelligence buildout. With hostilities having started again in the Middle East, China, which accounts for a small portion of the global helium supply, announced today that it would freeze exports of the gas due to potential shortages.
Data from the US Geological Survey (USGS) shows that China ranked sixth in global helium production as of March 2026 and tied with Poland, as both countries produced three million cubic meters of the gas for a 1.6% share. At the top was the US, courtesy of its 81 million cubic meters of production, with Qatar and Russia coming in second and third, respectively. With hostilities having flared up once again in the Middle East, China's decision to stop helium exports was made in order to support domestic chip production since the country imports most of its Helium.
US sanctions on China have meant that the country has had to rely more on its domestic chip production capabilities as opposed to being able to import the latest products from countries such as Taiwan. With its domestic chip sector unable to meet global peers in scale, the criticality of uninterrupted supplies is even higher for the Asian country.
A disruption or turmoil in the helium supply chain was also alluded to by Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan earlier this year. Speaking in a podcast in June, Tan discussed the different factors that were affecting the semiconductor industry:
"And I think couple of bottlenecks for the AI demand and growth. One of course is everybody knows power constraint. Some country the power they just don't have that. . .and then secondly, a lot of people didn't realize, the helium impact can be also quite significant for the semiconductor."
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
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