Supply Cut of Noble Gases from Russia Could Hit Chip Production

[btarunr]

It turns out that Russia was a major supplier of, among many other things, industrial-grade noble gases, which are vital for semiconductor production. Earlier this month, the Russian government announced that it is cutting supply of noble gases to "unfriendly countries" (countries in the US sphere of influence), unless they pay for the merchandise in Russian Rubles, by creating remittance accounts in Russian banks (similar to how it wants these countries to pay for crude oil and natural gas).

Russia and Ukraine were leading global suppliers of industrial noble gases, together making up a third of the noble gas consumed by the semiconductor industry. Much of the heavy industry in Ukraine is either out of service, or committed to the war effort, which lets Russia dictate terms for its supply. Argon, xenon, helium, and neon are the most sought after noble gases in the semiconductor industry. In addition to the inert environment, mixtures of these gases are required by the lasers that perform lithography (etching microscopic circuits on silicon wafer).



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[btarunr]

No poop-tomatina, amigos.

 

[spnidel]

No poop-tomatina, amigos.

the what now?

 

[Wirko]

No poop-tomatina, amigos.

That's going to be hard ...

Is neon and other noble gases actually consumed in lasers and other equipment? Seems unlikely as they're chemically inert. More probably they are either lost in the environment or get contaminated, so with some effort, a larger percentage could be recovered.

 

[watzupken]

This was already a known problem. The reason we don’t see an immediate effect is because there should stockpile that can cushion some of the disruption. The issue will surface as more fabs start to come online and require these noble gases for lasers and such. So this will eventually throw a wrench into all the fab expansion plans.

 

[R-T-B]

No poop-tomatina, amigos.

You posted this, too late now.

This was already a known problem. The reason we don’t see an immediate effect is because there should stockpile that can cushion some of the disruption. The issue will surface as more fabs start to come online and require these noble gases for lasers and such. So this will eventually throw a wrench into all the fab expansion plans.

This, basically.

 

[Deleted member 185088]

Politicians are so dumb, we should get rid of them and their small dick complex.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Russia doing what Russia wants to do seems the only issue atm.
Don't believe Russian oil has ever stopped flowing either.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

I'm guessing those that need these gasses did not make a Plan B for when this would happen.

 

[droopyRO]

Politicians are so dumb, we should get rid of them and their small dick complex.

And replace them with what ? CEO's or Skynet AI ?

 

[Chaitanya]

Hi,
Russia doing what Russia wants to do seems the only issue atm.
Don't believe Russian oil has ever stopped flowing either.

US hasn't stopped importing fertilizers(also Uranium to run their power plants) from Russia either and without those their own farming would be crippled so there's that. Now imagine the chaos if Russia bans export of fertilizers to US.
BTW I just saw news of European countries restarting coal power plants while they are lecturing India and China over green house gas emissions.

 

[ModEl4]

US hasn't stopped importing fertilizers(also Uranium to run their power plants) from Russia either and without those their own farming would be crippled so there's that. Now imagine the chaos if Russia bans export of fertilizers to US.
BTW I just saw news of European countries restarting coal power plants while they are lecturing India and China over green house gas emissions.

Are you watching Jimmy Dore's channel perchance?jk

 

[ThrashZone]

US hasn't stopped importing fertilizers(also Uranium to run their power plants) from Russia either and without those their own farming would be crippled so there's that. Now imagine the chaos if Russia bans export of fertilizers to US.
BTW I just saw news of European countries restarting coal power plants while they are lecturing India and China over green house gas emissions.

Hi,
Yep no taste to stop Russia anywhere so sanctions have been for the most part symbolic jesters at best with no bite
When Russia says something you have to take it seriously because nobody will step in and frankly talk is cheap except on Russia's side you can take that shit to the bank.

Funny thing is we're supposed to believe US would do something if China invaded

 

[Chaitanya]

Hi,
Yep no taste to stop Russia anywhere so sanctions have been for the most part symbolic jesters at best with no bite
When Russia says something you have to take it seriously because nobody will step in and frankly talk is cheap except on Russia's side you can take that shit to the bank.

Funny thing is we're supposed to believe US would do something if China invaded

Unfortunately in this whole mess its the common citizen suffering whether its high cost of fuel leading to inflation and then there are supply chain disruptions which have been going on since the beginning of pandemic. Just dont even want to imagine the chaos of invasion of Taiwan.

Are you watching Jimmy Dore's channel perchance?jk

Who is that? never heard of him.

 

[ModEl4]

Who is that? never heard of him.

I was just only kidding!

Jimmy Dore - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Chaitanya]

I was just only kidding!

Jimmy Dore - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

I just remember reading articles(weirdly it was on April 1st) on how US made special arrangements for importing fertilizers from Russia.

US carves out mechanism for insulating Russian fertilizer exports from sanctions

In FY 2021, Russia alone accounted for over 17 percent of total MOP (muriate of potash) imports and nearly 60 percent of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium) imports.

economictimes.indiatimes.com

Also this week seeing news of how Europe is being a hypocrite with colonial attitude towards climate change: