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A comment on Qatar helium shutdown puts chip supply chain on a two-week clock. Parent comment

Re:Qatar helium shutdown puts chip supply chain on a two-wee... by danparsonson on Friday March 13, 2026 @09:40PM (#47372430)
You can't just spin up such a facility in a few days or weeks though, surely? Even if the core of a process is relatively simple physically, you still need all the supporting infrastructure to make it happen.
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Re:Qatar helium shutdown puts chip supply chain on a two-wee... by jiggawatts on Saturday March 14, 2026 @02:13AM (#47373848)
Starting from an empty lot, no, it would take nearly a year.

However, any air (or gas) liquefaction / separation plant that is already making purified industrial gases from air or other sources could be adapted in a matter of weeks or at most a couple of months.

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