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Air Products and Chemicals CEO Seifi Ghasemi warns that industrial helium inventories offer only weeks of supply
Sunday, March 22, 2026 at 07:17 AM
Seifi Ghasemi, the CEO of Air Products and Chemicals, reported that current helium inventories in the industry are limited to a high single-digit number of containers. While these reserves can support industrial needs for a few weeks, he warned that a prolonged shortage lasting months would exhaust available supplies. He noted that while theoretical cavern capacities are public, actual inventory levels held by competitors remain unknown.
Context
Air Products CEO Seifi Ghasemi warned this week that industrial helium inventories are severely strained, stating that current reserves offer only a few weeks of supply. Ghasemi noted that while Air Products and its competitors maintain some inventory in underground caverns, these levels consist of only a high single-digit number of containers which would be rapidly consumed if disruptions persist for months. This supply crunch is being exacerbated by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to regional conflict, which has halted shipments from Qatar, a producer of approximately 30% of the world's helium.
The shortage is critical for the semiconductor industry, where ultra-high purity helium is a vital, non-substitutable material for wafer fabrication and heat transfer. While chipmakers are typically prioritized during supply allocations, spot prices have already surged by 70% to 100% in some markets. With the U.S. Federal Helium Reserve facing private sale and transition, the industry is increasingly reliant on fragile global supply chains that are now facing a potential 60-to-90-day outage, threatening sustained production at global fabs.
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