Dave RahardjaMar 23

#Iran’s successful hit on a Qatari natural gas facility looks to me like brilliant strategy.

#Qatar supplies 30% of the world’s helium. The gas is used for everything from inflating party balloons, to running MRI machines, to manufacturing silicon wafers. That last use case is why I think this is an especially astute move. Without Qatar’s helium, chip manufacturing would have to slow down massively; without chips, there would be no GPUs; and without GPUs, the AI industry cannot continue its bubblesome growth.

I read that helium is extremely difficult to stockpile, so it must be constantly shipped in liquid form in massive refrigerated containers (some of which are stuck behind the Hormuz strait blockade). So at any point, it appears that the world has about 4–6 weeks of helium supply. By destroying Qatar’s natural gas plant, Iran has effectively started a countdown timer on the world economy.

Masterful gambit.

https://abcnews.com/Business/wireStory/iran-war-halts-qatar-helium-output-threatening-global-131278124

Iran war halts Qatar helium output, threatening global tech supply chains

The Iran war is tightening global tech supply chains by cutting off helium from Qatar, a key source of the gas used in advanced industries like chipmaking

ABC News
aardvarkMar 24
Show threadDave Rahardja

Iran is quite literally manipulating the world’s economy in this war by commandeering a strategic part of its supply chain. Gasoline is already expensive and in short supply. In a few weeks, everything from fertilizer to silicon chip manufacturing must ramp down. Then, food prices will rise everywhere due to fertilizer and transportation costs. And they’re making it clear that the US and Israel are to blame.

They are so good at this game.

And can we talk about how good their drones and missiles seem to be? There is plenty of footage floating around now that show these craft evading the Iron Dome interceptors. I wonder if both the US and Israel were surprised by just how sophisticated Iran’s (cheap) missiles are and how many of them have penetrated the (expensive) defense systems.

#iran #iranWar

Mar 23 at 6:26pmWeb