Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking
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Re: Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking
#2How is neon extracted and why does one country have a 90% monopoly (in this specific grade)?
edit: Found this C&EN story from 2016 that adds context:
- "Chip makers, which account for more than 90% of global neon consumption, are already experiencing high prices and some shortages stemming from the Russian conflict with Ukraine, Shon-Roy says. The war, which started in 2014, interrupted global supplies of the gas, about 70% of which comes from Iceblick, a firm based in the Ukrainian city of Odessa."
- "Iceblick gathers and purifies neon from large cryogenic air separation units that supply oxygen and nitrogen to steelmakers. Most of the air separation units equipped to capture neon, which makes up only 18.2 ppm of the atmosphere by volume, are in Eastern Europe."
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/cen-09410-notw7
This is puzzling to me, because I don't get why air separation should naturally concentrate in exactly one place. It's not tied to a rare and localized geologic formation, like helium sort-of is.
Also there's cryogenic air separation plants all over the planet, why don't they do neon too? (Asking in the spirit of curiosity)
edit #2: I've just found something that offers a possible explanation and it's far more interesting than I expected:
- "Neon was regarded as a strategic resource in the former Soviet Union, because it was believed to be required for the intended production of laser weapons for missile and satellite defence purposes in the 1980s. Accordingly, all major air separation units in the Soviet Union were equipped with neon, but also krypton and xenon, enrichment facilities or, in some cases, purification plants (cf. Sections 5.4 and 5.5). The domestic Soviet supply of neon was extremely large but demand low."
https://www.deutsche-rohstoffagentur.de/DE/Gemeinsames/Produ... (chapter 5.2)
Re: Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking
#3How is neon extracted and why does one country have a 90% monopoly (in this specific grade)? edit: Found this C&EN story from 2016 that adds context: - "Chip makers, which account for more than 90% of global neon consumption, are already experiencing high prices and some shortages stemming from the Russian conflict with Ukraine, Shon-Roy says. The war, which started in 2014, interrupted global supplies of the gas, ab…
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Re: Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking
#4How is neon extracted and why does one country have a 90% monopoly (in this specific grade)? edit: Found this C&EN story from 2016 that adds context: - "Chip makers, which account for more than 90% of global neon consumption, are already experiencing high prices and some shortages stemming from the Russian conflict with Ukraine, Shon-Roy says. The war, which started in 2014, interrupted global supplies of the gas, ab…
I think it might be tied to steelmaking? Ie, if you are already doing work to generate oxy and nitrogen, getting a byproduct like neon is easier?
So CAN the USA separate air? For sure. Maybe it's just cheaper. A lot of these stories about disruptions are disruptions of the CHEAP option.
Re: Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking
#5How is neon extracted and why does one country have a 90% monopoly (in this specific grade)? edit: Found this C&EN story from 2016 that adds context: - "Chip makers, which account for more than 90% of global neon consumption, are already experiencing high prices and some shortages stemming from the Russian conflict with Ukraine, Shon-Roy says. The war, which started in 2014, interrupted global supplies of the gas, ab…
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Re: Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking
#6How is neon extracted and why does one country have a 90% monopoly (in this specific grade)? edit: Found this C&EN story from 2016 that adds context: - "Chip makers, which account for more than 90% of global neon consumption, are already experiencing high prices and some shortages stemming from the Russian conflict with Ukraine, Shon-Roy says. The war, which started in 2014, interrupted global supplies of the gas, ab…
As with chip making, it can be done anywhere but the tools and factories setup to mass produce are concentrated in certain areas. That's just how industry works sometimes.
It takes time to setup new supply chains for mass production.
Re: Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking
#7How is neon extracted and why does one country have a 90% monopoly (in this specific grade)? edit: Found this C&EN story from 2016 that adds context: - "Chip makers, which account for more than 90% of global neon consumption, are already experiencing high prices and some shortages stemming from the Russian conflict with Ukraine, Shon-Roy says. The war, which started in 2014, interrupted global supplies of the gas, ab…
It can be also tied to bespoke equipment, hard-to-transfer expertise and experience. If consumption grows relatively slow, it makes sense to expand single installation, rather than duplicate it with 'copy exactly (which might take too long to pay off).
Re: Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking
#8How is neon extracted and why does one country have a 90% monopoly (in this specific grade)? edit: Found this C&EN story from 2016 that adds context: - "Chip makers, which account for more than 90% of global neon consumption, are already experiencing high prices and some shortages stemming from the Russian conflict with Ukraine, Shon-Roy says. The war, which started in 2014, interrupted global supplies of the gas, ab…
As with chip making, it can be done anywhere but the tools and factories setup to mass produce are concentrated in certain areas. That's just how industry works sometimes. It takes time to setup new supply chains for mass production.
We’re seeing this with lithium. Canada and the US have significant amounts in the ground but the mining and refining infra simply isn’t there.
Neon distillation does seem much simpler and cleaner, from my layman perspective.
Re: Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking
#9How is neon extracted and why does one country have a 90% monopoly (in this specific grade)? edit: Found this C&EN story from 2016 that adds context: - "Chip makers, which account for more than 90% of global neon consumption, are already experiencing high prices and some shortages stemming from the Russian conflict with Ukraine, Shon-Roy says. The war, which started in 2014, interrupted global supplies of the gas, ab…
As I understand it, it could be that air separation occurs elsewhere, at different places, and that only purification to extract semiconductor-grade neon is done by Iceblick in Odessa.
Re: Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas, critical for lasers used in chipmaking
#1090%! Did we really let ourselves become so reliant on Ukraine and Taiwan for computer chips? Taiwan being the next country most under threat.
In fact, Reuters just reported that "Taiwan warns Chinese aircraft in its air defence zone"
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taiwan-reports-ni...