US Adds Helium to Critical Materials List, Citing Chip Supply Risk

The U.S. Department of Energy designated helium as a critical material on Friday, citing its indispensable role in semiconductor manufacturing and a global supply chain now visibly at risk. The move makes more federal financing available to helium producers and puts the gas under closer government monitoring. Helium becomes the 20th entry on DOE's critical materials list.

The timing is not subtle. Qatar, one of the world's top three helium producers alongside the United States and Russia, has seen its exports severely curtailed by Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz during its war with Israel and the United States. Iranian strikes on Qatari infrastructure have cut supply further. Russia imposed temporary export controls on helium in April to protect its own domestic market.

Why does a semiconductor trade care about a balloon gas?

Helium makes balloons rise, but that is not why DOE is interested. David Isaacs, vice president of the Semiconductor Industry Association, noted the gas plays an essential role in the industry's cooling, photolithography and leak detection, among other uses.

"We look forward to continuing to work with government and industry leaders in the U.S. and across the world to strengthen semiconductor supply chain resilience," Isaacs said.

Assistant Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson said helium's unique properties make it irreplaceable. It is non-combustible and has the lowest boiling point of any gas. The nation needs ample supply for semiconductors, quantum and super computing, and superconducting magnets, she said.

"Helium is one of those components that could be a single point of failure, where we cannot let that happen," Robertson said in an interview. "It's really towards the future of American competitiveness and energy security, which we believe is national security."

What does the designation actually unlock?

To qualify for the list, a non-fuel mineral element or substance must serve an essential function in energy technologies and face a high risk of supply disruption. Metallurgical coal, used for steelmaking, was the last addition in 2025. Fluorine is the only other gas on the list.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright framed the decision within the administration's broader industrial policy.

"President Trump is bringing back America's manufacturing industry, and that means making sure we have the materials needed to build things in America again," Wright said in a statement.

How much helium does the US actually produce?

The United States remains the world's largest producer of both natural gas and helium. It produced 81 million cubic meters of helium in 2025, roughly 43 percent of global supply, and exported 38 million cubic meters of that. Output has held near 80 million cubic meters annually since 2021.

Abundant reserves sit in Wyoming, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Utah. The constraint is processing, not geology: extraction plants are running at their limits, and permitting and building new ones takes years, according to DOE. As of 2023, the plants extracting the most helium operated in Kansas, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Oklahoma, according to federal data.

There is also a policy echo here. The United States once kept a strategic helium stockpile in Texas, modeled on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Congress mandated privatization in 2013, and the Bureau of Land Management completed the sale of the federal helium system to industrial gas company Messer in 2024.

The U.S. Geological Survey listed helium as a critical mineral in 2018, but later lists dropped it because domestic supply was considered secure. The word "considered" is doing real work in that sentence.

What happens next?

Some in the industry had lobbied for exactly this outcome. Avanti Helium Corp., a North American gas exploration company, had called the designation urgent and argued that increased domestic supply is needed to avoid foreign dependence.

"We are very pleased to have helium recognized as a critical material," said Avanti Helium CEO Chris Bakker. "The U.S. has the potential to remain self-sufficient in helium. However, this will require investment in exploration for new reserves and inclusion on the critical materials list will bring significant support to these efforts."

The environmental picture is mixed. Greeshma Gadikota, director of the Lenfast Center for Sustainable Energy at Columbia University, noted that recovering helium from natural gas carries concerns, but also opportunities. Burning the natural gas produces substantial CO2 emissions; using the extracted helium alone does not necessarily add to greenhouse gases. She said she would prefer to see natural gas processed into hydrogen and solid carbon, the latter offering permanent sequestration and industrial uses in rubber and pigments.

With Hormuz disruptions squeezing Qatari volumes and Russian exports controlled, the designation signals that Washington now treats helium the way it treats gallium and rare earths: as leverage worth securing at home.