Member-only story

Helium Is the Hidden Chokepoint Beneath the Chip

The chip industry looks resilient at the surface. Helium shows how much of it still depends on thin, hidden industrial passages

Flavio Aliberti

10 min readMay 3, 2026

Press enter or click to view image in full size Created by the Author

Fabs, tools, and geopolitics usually come to mind when we think about semiconductor risk. Helium shows something more basic: modern chip production depends on a thin, qualified, globally routed infrastructure whose bottlenecks sit far below the most visible layer.

Most people discuss critical materials the way amateurs discuss architecture. They notice the facade. They miss the wall carrying the weight.

A drum. A tanker. A quoted price. A supply interruption. The visible object attracts attention because it is easy to name and easy to place inside the familiar language of procurement. Helium becomes a gas. Neon becomes an input. Rare earths become a sourcing issue.…