People have noticed that the great AI build-out, including all those data centers, is driving the economy forward, or at least driving a lot of the growth in equity values.
But the Strait of Hormuz crisis, if not ended soon, could put a serious crimp on it. Here’s Ambrose Evans-Pritchard sounding the alarm:
The world has lost 40pc of its helium supply since the start of the Gulf war, first from Qatar and then from Russia.
We will find out soon enough whether the global digital economy can shrug off losses on this scale and whether political leaders will allow the AI boom to keep gobbling up an ever greater share of the scarce helium that remains.
Industry cannot make advanced AI chips or semiconductors below 10 nanometres without ultra-high purity helium to cool the wafers and stabilise the plasma for etching. Even workhorse chips for cars and computers require lower-grade helium at 99.999pc purity.
But we also need helium for other high priorities: in nuclear power, advanced weaponry, aerospace, fibre-optic cables, quantum computing, chromatography or to cool superconducting magnets in MRI machines.
Right now, AI companies are paying the highest prices to keep up the production of the most important and advanced chips for their industry. But other manufacturers, like automakers, could be on the losing side of this supply disruption.