Iran's strikes on Qatar's Ras Laffan facility have knocked out ~33% of global helium supply, a gas that is irreplaceable in semiconductor manufacturing, MRI machines, and space exploration.

QatarEnergy said it has now cut annual helium exports by 14%, with repairs to the damaged facilities expected to take years.

Helium spot prices have already DOUBLED over the last 2 weeks, with contract surcharges exceeding 30%, and the real shortage has not even hit yet.

Notably, according to helium consultant Phil Kornbluth, "nobody has run out of helium yet, but it is a few weeks out when the shortage really hits," as containers filled before the war are still in transit.

Meanwhile, ~200 specialized helium containers are currently stuck in the Middle East, each worth ~$1 million, and repositioning them to alternative suppliers will take significant time.

South Korea is particularly exposed to supply disruptions, importing ~65% of its helium from Qatar, with Samsung and SK Hynix holding a few months of inventory.

The market, however, is already taking a hit, with over $200 billion in Korean chipmaker market cap wiped out this month, as investors price in a 15% to 20% hit to 2026 production volumes.

If the shortage worsens, chipmakers may be forced to prioritize production of higher-margin AI chips over consumer products, pushing already elevated memory and GPU prices even higher.

The Iran War is now threatening the backbone of the global technology supply chain.