The problem is that helium is not like many other industrial gases. It cannot be made at scale when needed. It is produced naturally underground over immense periods of time, usually recovered as a by-product of natural gas, and once released into the atmosphere it can escape Earth altogether.<\/p>\n
That makes helium a small but strategically important resource \u2014 and one Australia may be able to do much more with.<\/p>\n
Why does helium matter?<\/p>\n
Helium has unusual properties that make it useful in places where other gases do not work as well.<\/p>\n
One of its most important uses is in MRI scanners. These machines create very powerful magnetic fields to produce detailed images of the inside of the human body. To do that, they rely on superconducting magnets \u2014 coils of wire that can carry electricity with zero resistance, but only when kept extremely cold.<\/p>\n
That is where helium comes in. Liquid helium boils at around minus 269\u00b0C, making it cold enough to keep MRI magnets superconducting. Many existing scanners hold well over a thousand litres of liquid helium, although newer sealed designs can use much less.<\/p>\n
If the helium runs out, a large number of scanners stop working.<\/p>\n
\u201cHospitals around the world ration scans when helium supply gets disrupted. And that might be when people encounter helium most directly \u2014 when it isn\u2019t there,\u201d says Dr George.<\/p>\n
Helium is also important to the digital technologies people use every day. Advanced semiconductor chips \u2014 including those used in phones, laptops and AI systems \u2014 rely on helium at several points in manufacturing, including to cool silicon wafers, flush manufacturing chambers and detect tiny leaks in vacuum systems.<\/p>\n
The gas is also used in the production of fibre-optic cables, which carry internet traffic, video streaming and cloud computing services around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo even if most people never see helium being used this way, they rely on it constantly,\u201d says Dr George.<\/p>\n
Why future technologies need it<\/p>\n
Two of the technologies expected to shape the next few decades \u2014 artificial intelligence and quantum computing \u2014 already depend on helium.<\/p>\n
AI depends on advanced semiconductor chips. The more advanced the chip, the more complex the manufacturing process becomes, and the more precisely temperatures, gases and vacuum conditions need to be controlled.<\/p>\n
Quantum computing is even more dependent on extreme cooling. Many quantum processors must operate at temperatures just a fraction of a degree above absolute zero. That is colder than deep space and far colder than an MRI magnet.<\/p>\n
The large golden, chandelier-like structures often shown in photos of quantum computers are not the computer itself. They are helium-based cooling systems. The actual quantum processor may be a tiny chip near the bottom of the structure.<\/p>\n
This is why helium supply is not just a scientific curiosity. It is part of the infrastructure behind the future economy.<\/p>\n
Can\u2019t we just make more helium?<\/p>\n
Not in any practical sense.<\/p>\n
Helium forms underground through the slow radioactive decay of elements such as uranium and thorium. Some of that helium becomes trapped beneath the same kinds of rock formations that trap natural gas.<\/p>\n
That is why helium is usually extracted as a by-product of natural gas and liquefied natural gas production, rather than mined on its own.<\/p>\n
But helium has another unusual feature: it is so light that, once it escapes into the atmosphere, it can drift upward and be lost into space.<\/p>\n
That means helium is not just scarce. It is also easy to waste permanently.<\/p>\n
\u201cHelium is a non-renewable resource because once its released it leaves the planet entirely,\u201d says Dr George. \u201cEvery cubic metre vented from a gas plant is gone for good.\u201d<\/p>\n
A fragile global supply chain<\/p>\n
Helium is produced by only a small number of countries.<\/p>\n
According to the U.S. Geological Survey\u2019s 2026 Mineral Commodity Summaries, estimated 2025 helium production was around 190 million cubic metres globally. The United States produced about 81 million cubic metres and Qatar about 63 million cubic metres, meaning those two countries together accounted for roughly three-quarters of global production.<\/p>\n
That concentration creates risk. If one major source is disrupted, there are few easy alternatives.<\/p>\n
Recent events have shown how quickly that can matter. In March, Iranian strikes on Qatar\u2019s Ras Laffan gas complex knocked out roughly a third of the world\u2019s helium supply \u2013 triggering a global helium shortage that has rippled through hospitals and research labs.<\/p>\n
Russian helium supply has also been affected by international sanctions on the country, and because helium has no practical substitute in some of its most important ultra-cold applications, shortages cannot simply be solved by switching gases.<\/p>\n
In a shortage, critical users such as hospitals and semiconductor manufacturers are likely to be prioritised. But that still leaves countries without domestic supply exposed to price shocks, delays and rationing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The problem is that helium is not like many other industrial gases. It cannot be made at scale…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":746740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,69596,5443,44,129866,88734,88733,69597,99038],"class_list":["post-746739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-division-of-equity-diversity-inclusion","tag-engineering","tag-news","tag-resilient-society","tag-school-of-electrical-engineering-and-telecommunications","tag-science-tech","tag-sdg","tag-sdg9"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=746739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/746740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}