US Designates Helium a Critical Material

The Energy Department added helium to its critical materials list because it is indispensable for semiconductor manufacturing and global supply is at risk. Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz and strikes on Qatar's infrastructure curtailed Qatari exports, and Russia imposed temporary export controls in April.

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The designation opens more federal financing for helium producers and brings closer government monitoring of a gas chipmakers cannot readily substitute. The US produced 43% of global helium in 2025, but extraction plants are at capacity and new ones take years to permit and build. Qatar's disrupted exports and Russia's export controls raise supply-security concerns for fabs and other helium-dependent users. Domestic helium producers and gas processors gain a policy tailwind, while semiconductor, MRI and quantum users gain supply-risk mitigation but not near-term relief. Helium is the 20th item on the list and only the second gas after fluorine, which signals that industrial gases are now treated as supply-chain chokepoints.