Low on Gas: Ukraine Invasion Chokes Supply of Neon Needed for Chipmaking
upstart writes:
Low on gas: Ukraine invasion chokes supply of neon needed for chipmaking:
Russia's invasion of Ukraine threatens to pile further pressure on chip manufacturing as a squeeze on the supply of rare gasses critical to the production process adds to pandemic-related disruptions.
Ukraine supplies about 50 percent of the world's neon gas, analysts have said, a byproduct of Russia's steel industry that is purified in the former Soviet republic and is indispensable in chip production.
Manufacturers have already been reeling from shortages of components, late deliveries and rising material costs, with companies that rely on chips, such as carmakers, facing production delays as a result.
[...] Many companies, including US manufacturers Applied Materials and Intel, have said constraints would persist into 2023. Demand for raw materials is also expected to rise by more than a third in the next four years, as businesses such as the world's biggest contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company increase production, said consultancy Techcet.
"We are in great trouble. We have no rare gasses to sell," said Tsuneo Date, who runs Daito Medical Gas, a pressurized gas dealer north of Tokyo.
When Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, neon prices shot up by at least 600 percent. Companies have said they can tap into reserves but the rush to find suppliers that are not in eastern Europe is causing shortages and price hikes, not only of neon but also other industrial gasses such as xenon and krypton.
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