semiconductor folks! I've seen a lot of talking heads repeat the claim that "a helium shortage is bad for chip production", never substantiated with useful information. do any of you know:

  • what is helium actually used in the processes?
  • which specific processes would be affected?
  • how much helium (ballpark) is needed per year?
  • where, if anywhere, a closed cycle is used?
  • what happened to the strategic helium reserve in the US?

@whitequark my understanding is that the extreme low temp refrigeration was the main use of helium. Getting magnets to superconducting temperatures for MRI machines and such

But I'm not sure how it would be used for semiconductor production