00:00This might actually risk even a bigger chip crunch here, just given that you still need a lot of this
00:05sort of energy to really fund this sort of AI boom.
00:09And certainly when it comes to some of these chip makers, that is the latest focus here on, of course,
00:13that new supply crunch.
00:14And Bloomberg Intelligence says when it comes to some of these Asian chip makers, they have about three months until
00:19a deficit of this gas begins to bite.
00:22Let's get to our Asia tech correspondent, Annabel Jeweler. She's with us here right now.
00:25First of all, just walk us through the whole process of helium and why we're talking about it now.
00:29Everyone's getting up to speed on what exactly helium is used for in the chip manufacturing process.
00:33So there are a lot of technical details to it.
00:36But I think what's important to emphasize is that helium has exceptional cooling capabilities.
00:41So it's not used in it's not an ingredient of the silicon wafer itself.
00:47It's more used for its cooling properties.
00:50So as the size of the chip shrinks, you need to rapidly cool it.
00:55And having helium there is what helps have more precision in the etching process, less overheating.
01:02And so it drives up your yield.
01:04So that is where helium comes into the manufacturing process.
01:08What you also need to know, people need to understand, is that there's no substitute for this.
01:15This is it.
01:16You know, so that that is really significant, especially when you get into advanced nodes.
01:20So five nanometer and below.
01:22That's where it becomes really important in the process.
01:25So that's sort of the the the helium component of the chip manufacturing process.
01:29But now the next stage is why are we seeing the output taken offline?
01:33And this comes down to where helium is is manufactured or how we get helium.
01:39And that's a byproduct.
01:40It's refined out of LNG.
01:42And so this Qatari facility has come offline because there's been an Iranian strike.
01:49This is the last raffin facility.
01:51It's the world's largest LNG facility.
01:54And so that has knocked a lot of what's knocked output off.
01:58And that also has a foreign impact to helium.
02:01Even though the U.S. is the world's largest producer of helium, LNG rather, they're using a lot of that
02:06domestically.
02:07And you really need that refinement process for helium to come about.
02:11And that's mostly being done by Qatar and Russia.
02:14And so that is the significance in terms of the impact.
02:18The likes of SK Hynix and TSMC are saying they've got supply for now.
02:22OK.
02:24But does it become an issue further down the track possibly?
02:27And the big question is, if you have this shortage, do you need to then continue to prioritize your more
02:34advanced nodes?
02:35And then that exacerbates the memory chip crunch.
02:39Right.
02:39Because that's the whole issue is that as you have these producers like SK Hynix and Samsung that are putting
02:45their bandwidth toward HBM, it's less supply of legacy technology.
02:51Yeah.
02:51And those, you know, a lot of the, or we talked about, you know, the other component here was a
02:55lot of the orders were already taken up going into next year, right?
02:58If they can't come up with it, too.
02:59Can we store helium?
03:00I know that sounds like a dumb question, but how, because do you stock up, do you stock up on
03:05the stuff?
03:06Well, that's the issue is that, yes, they're saying they've got stockpiles that can last them for several months.
03:10OK.
03:10So they're saying we're insulated right now.
03:12They don't see any short-term impact.
03:15But that is part of the issue around the supply is that there are tankers that have been filled, but
03:21they're also being stuck because the Strait of Hormuz is effectively shut.
03:25And so there's really not any new supply coming into the market.
03:29They've only got their own reserves, it seems, to go off for now.
03:32And as I said, they are saying they've got them to last a few months.
03:35The question is, of course, does this extend?
03:38And then you'll start to see the impact.
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