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Qatar helium shutdown puts chip supply chain on a two-week clock

tomshardware.com

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Re: Qatar helium shutdown puts chip supply chain on a two-week clock

#261

Post by whyenot »

SlightlyLeftPad wrote: post #160
randerson wrote: post #150

I've developed a new fear of my 2025 desktop PC being damaged by a power surge or something, because it would cost at least $2K more to replace than I paid for it, assuming I can even find parts now. Compared to the rest of my adult life when I used to secretly pray for something to fail so I would have a reason to upgrade.

Silver lining: literally all Macs are a total steal right now.

I bought a Mac Mini in February and maxed out the ram and storage. Now, it seems like that was a prescient move, but honestly I really only bought it for photo editing and playing the new World of Warcraft expansion (don't judge me!).

Re: Qatar helium shutdown puts chip supply chain on a two-week clock

#263

Post by icwtyjj »

HPsquared wrote: post #217
icwtyjj wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.bocgases.ie/files/balloon_grade_helium_factsheet... says 95% helium and 1% oxygen while https://dan.org/alert-diver/article/helium-gas-purity-what-i... says 97.5% helium but very unlikely for it to be as low as 80%

Helium for diving is going to be a different mix than what's used for balloons. In diving it's used to reduce the partial pressure of oxygen, and also to quickly diffuse back out of tissues when returning to the surface. Very different application!

Sorry i was referencing "Balloon grade H is the least pure at 97.5 percent." from the diving article

Re: Qatar helium shutdown puts chip supply chain on a two-week clock

#264

Post by Steuard »

boredatoms wrote: post #250
throwup238 wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The big problem is purity. Fabs use grade 5 and 6 helium where contaminants are 1-10 parts per billion. The infrastructure to get it that pure becomes very specialized and any time the helium goes through a process it picks up so much contamination that recycling it would require the entire purifying and quality control infrastructure for pressure or temperature swing adsorption. Some fabs are starting to reuse heliu…

Do we have a process to make new helium from hydrogen?

If you come up with a process to do that efficiently, the helium will be a lovely bonus but not remotely the most important result. :D

Re: Qatar helium shutdown puts chip supply chain on a two-week clock

#265

Post by XorNot »

overfeed wrote: post #182
int0x29 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The strait is now mined at least partially. Country of origin doesn't matter when there are mines in the water.

We really are overdue for mines with IFF and can inert themselves temporarily for blue ships.

The problem is systems like that have a failure rate.

Self deactivating land mines exist - and sometimes fail to do this (3/100 was the rate I heard a few years ago).

Same problem with cluster munitions: it's not how they work. It's that a bunch of the bomblets fail to work, then leave UXO around which explodes a child's hand later.

Re: Qatar helium shutdown puts chip supply chain on a two-week clock

#266

Post by davidw »

throwup238 wrote: post #175
abeppu wrote: post #98

I remember hearing somewhere on this site that medical imaging got pretty good at building systems that recycle helium. Does chip manufacturing not do this or are the losses at their scale are still large enough that you need a substantial constant supply?

The big problem is purity. Fabs use grade 5 and 6 helium where contaminants are 1-10 parts per billion. The infrastructure to get it that pure becomes very specialized and any time the helium goes through a process it picks up so much contamination that recycling it would require the entire purifying and quality control infrastructure for pressure or temperature swing adsorption. Some fabs are starting to reuse heliu…

Now I'm imagining a procedural cop show where they bust an illegal helium dealer, and one of the cops takes a huff to gauge what they're dealing with, and then squeaks out "that's the good stuff".

Re: Qatar helium shutdown puts chip supply chain on a two-week clock

#268

Post by elorant »

SlightlyLeftPad wrote: post #160
randerson wrote: post #150

I've developed a new fear of my 2025 desktop PC being damaged by a power surge or something, because it would cost at least $2K more to replace than I paid for it, assuming I can even find parts now. Compared to the rest of my adult life when I used to secretly pray for something to fail so I would have a reason to upgrade.

Silver lining: literally all Macs are a total steal right now.

You pay an $1k extra just to get the model with 1TB disk. How is that a steal?

Re: Qatar helium shutdown puts chip supply chain on a two-week clock

#269

Post by bob1029 »

throwup238 wrote: post #175
abeppu wrote: post #98

I remember hearing somewhere on this site that medical imaging got pretty good at building systems that recycle helium. Does chip manufacturing not do this or are the losses at their scale are still large enough that you need a substantial constant supply?

The big problem is purity. Fabs use grade 5 and 6 helium where contaminants are 1-10 parts per billion. The infrastructure to get it that pure becomes very specialized and any time the helium goes through a process it picks up so much contamination that recycling it would require the entire purifying and quality control infrastructure for pressure or temperature swing adsorption. Some fabs are starting to reuse heliu…

> The infrastructure to get it that pure becomes very specialized

I think some of the most advanced fab infrastructure is the ultra pure water system. Water becomes quite aggressive chemically when it has no dissolved ions in it. You have to use exotic or highly processed materials simply to transport it around. If the factory didn't need such massive quantities of it, trucking it in would likely be preferable.

Re: Qatar helium shutdown puts chip supply chain on a two-week clock

#270

Post by cyberax »

esafak wrote: post #216
cyberax wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everybody should be allowed to vote, except for people who don't want everyone to vote.

Even people who openly aim to violently overthrow the government and abolish elections?

Yes, why not? If they are a minority, then there's no issue. If they are a majority (or close to it), then perhaps they have a point.
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