The Iran war has spiked helium prices. Here's which products and industries could get more expensive.

• Helium prices have skyrocketed since the start of the Iran war.
• Qatar, which supplies a third of the world's helium, has had production disrupted.
• Helium is a critical input for industries like semiconductors, healthcare, and aerospace.

Helium is not normally thought of as a critical resource. Its reputation is more centered around filling party balloons.

But the natural-gas byproduct is integral to large swaths of everyday life — and its price surge during the Iran war is expected to be felt across multiple industries.

The semiconductor, medical-imaging, and aerospace sectors all rely on helium as a crucial component. As helium gets more expensive as an input cost, that risks pushing prices higher for items like cell phones and MRIs.

So how much has the price of helium gone up? It's difficult to put a firm number on it, since there's no official benchmark for the gas. But early reports cited a 50% spike in the early going of the war, while more recent estimates say helium has doubled since late February.

The primary driver has been disruption to the nation of Qatar, which is supplies a third of the world's helium.

In mid-March, Iran attacked a Qatari liquefied natural gas plant, the world's largest facility of its kind. QatarEnergy, the world's largest LNG producer, reported "extensive damage" to its production facilities, and said it will take up to five years to repair.

Due to helium's unique properties as a rare gas, there is no substitute in many use cases. This, combined with the level of reliance on Qatar, intensify the economic risks.

Detailed below are three industries that will feel the effect of higher helium prices:

Semiconductor manufacturing

Helium plays a critical role in the chip making process. Semiconductors are used in a wide away of products including smartphones, data centers, EVs, and more.

Helium is adept at conducting and transferring heat, which makes it useful for rapid cooling, a crucial part of the chipmaking process.

In 2025, 17% of helium was used for controlled atmospheres, fiber optics, and semiconductors, per the USGS.

Shortages or substantial price increase could be a drag on the industry at a time when the AI booms has already dramatically increased demand.

Further, in fiber optics — another sub-sector important for AI — helium is used for cleaning in vacuum chambers.

Healthcare

Medical-imaging technology, specifically MRI machines, use helium for cooling. Helium keeps temperatures low enough for the machine's superconducting magnets to work.

MRI's accounted for 15% of the helium used in 2025, USGS data showed.

There are helium free MRI scanners. Continued rapid adoption could help offset some helium constraints, but the war is still expected to weigh on the industry.

"The ability to deliver new MRI scanners [is] probably not at risk (though at significantly higher cost), but if deployed MRIs quench, service organizations' ability to respond promptly with adequate quantities of liquid [helium] will tested," said Tobias Gilk, an MRI tech industry expert.

The expert explained that an MRI machines uses about as much helium as 90,000 party balloons.

Aerospace

Helium is used in aerospace technology for propelling rockets and cooling systems. The gas is specifically used for fuel pressurization in rocket-propulsion systems.

Aerospace made up 9% of the helium used in the US in 2025.

Airgas, the helium company that announced a force majeure due to the attacks on Qatari LNG facilities, is partnered with NASA providing some of the gases needed to power the Artemis II takeoff.

The historic 10-day journey around the moon wouldn't be possible with out helium. Beyond propulsion, helium is used in cooling systems as well as for leak detection.

Private aerospace companies, like Elon Musk's SpaceX, as well as government-run missions like Artemis II, have intensified helium demand.

Increased costs associated with a tighter global helium supply could increase costs for space research, some of which is tax-funded.