{"slug": "china-temporarily-bans-helium-exports-as-us-iran-tensions-could-trigger", "title": "China temporarily bans helium exports as US-Iran tensions could trigger shortages", "summary": "China imposed a temporary ban on helium exports on Friday, citing potential shortages from renewed U.S.-Iran conflict. The move aims to secure domestic supplies of the gas critical for chip manufacturing and AI development, as China relies on imports for over 85% of its helium needs.", "body_md": "# China temporarily bans helium exports as US-Iran tensions could trigger shortages\n\nBy\n\nReuters\n\nPublished\nJuly 10, 2026, 10:25 a.m. ET\n\nSee more of our coverage in your search results.\n\n[Add The New York Post on Google](https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=nypost.com)\n\nBEIJING, July 10 – China announced on Friday a temporary export ban on helium, effective immediately, as resumption of military conflict in the Middle East threatens to trigger new shortages of the gas critical for chip manufacturing.\n\nEarlier this year, the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran led to helium shortages, disrupting companies globally, including in China, where the AI industry increasingly relies on domestic chips for training and running AI models.\n\nHelium is essential for heat management in semiconductor production.\n\nThe helium ban is the latest example of Beijing seeking to prevent domestic shortages of critical materials by curbing exports.\n\nIt has previously imposed similar measures on fuel, fertilisers and sulphuric acid.\n\nChina is also looking to boost domestic chip manufacturing capacity and reduce the industry’s dependence on cutting-edge Nvidia semiconductors that fall under U.S. export controls.\n\n## China re-exports helium\n\nChina is heavily dependent on overseas helium despite efforts to expand domestic production.\n\nStill, the export ban could squeeze global supply further because Chinese companies have increasingly acted as intermediaries, importing Russian helium and re-exporting some volumes to overseas markets, including Europe.\n\nAnalysts estimate China imports around 85% or more of its helium requirements.\n\nQatar accounts for a major share of global helium output and has supplied more than half of China’s imports in recent years.\n\nHelium is extracted from natural gas fields with unusually high helium concentrations and cannot be quickly manufactured from other industrial processes.\n\nIn chipmaking, it is used for wafer cooling, plasma etching, chemical vapour deposition, atomic layer deposition, lithography support and leak detection.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/china-temporarily-bans-helium-exports-as-us-iran-tensions-could-trigger", "canonical_source": "https://nypost.com/2026/07/10/world-news/china-temporarily-bans-helium-exports-as-us-iran-tensions-flare-again/", "published_at": "2026-07-10 14:25:10+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-10 14:40:04.053496+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-infrastructure", "ai-chips", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["China", "U.S.", "Iran", "Nvidia", "Qatar"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/china-temporarily-bans-helium-exports-as-us-iran-tensions-could-trigger", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/china-temporarily-bans-helium-exports-as-us-iran-tensions-could-trigger.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/china-temporarily-bans-helium-exports-as-us-iran-tensions-could-trigger.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/china-temporarily-bans-helium-exports-as-us-iran-tensions-could-trigger.jsonld"}}