First, they came for fuel. <\/p>\n
Then fertiliser. <\/p>\n
Now, price rises are coming for computer chips and AI.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s all because half the world\u2019s helium gas comes from the Middle East.<\/p>\n
You may think of party balloons and squeaky voices.<\/p>\n
But the ultralight gas is a vital ingredient for many advanced technologies \u2013 especially the semiconductors driving the artificial intelligence revolution.<\/p>\n
Heavy demand for chips and memory has already seen prices soar.<\/p>\n
Now, helium scarcity will add to cost pressures.<\/p>\n
Helium can reveal the tiniest of leaks in pressure-sensitive equipment.<\/p>\n
It cools the superconducting magnets used by the high-resolution sensors of medical MRI machines.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It cools the high-precision machines used to etch silicon chips into computing cores. <\/p>\n
And it blows the finest grains of damaging dust out of their production lines.<\/p>\n
This is why chipmakers \u201cnot only need a lot of it, but they need it all the time,\u201d semiconductor consultant Patrick Wilson told Foreign Policy<\/a>. <\/p>\n Shortages now seem certain to affect silicon chip production.<\/p>\n Despite repeated reassurances, the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> remains closed to traffic.<\/p>\n And that means everything from missiles and smartphones to AI assistants and medical scans will become more expensive.<\/p>\n \u201cPrices have surged, supply has tightened, and companies across the semiconductor industry are scrambling to secure material,\u201d writes Peterson Institute for International Economics analyst Robert Lawrence<\/a>. <\/p>\n Economic stranglehold<\/p>\n Iran just won\u2019t give up.<\/p>\n US and Israeli forces have destroyed more than 13,000 targets and all but eliminated Tehran\u2019s air and sea forces.<\/p>\n But the Islamic fundamentalist regime has discovered it has a weapon far more effective than a handful of nuclear missiles. The mere threat of sea mines has caused tanks, bulk carriers and container ships to drop anchor.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s choking global supplies of oil, gas, fertiliser, helium, sulphur \u2013 and helium.<\/p>\n \u201cIRAN HAS JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THE STRAIT OF IRAN IS FULLY OPEN AND READY FOR FULL PASSAGE,\u201d US President Donald Trump proclaimed on social media the day news of the current ceasefire broke.<\/p>\n More than two weeks later, passage through the misnamed \u201cStrait of Iran\u201d (actually the Strait of Hormuz) remains effectively closed off.<\/p>\n Traffic has slowed to a trickle. <\/p>\n