Big opportunity to ‘boost the global footprint of Canadian helium’ with AI boom: economist - BNN Bloomberg

Canada’s helium reserves could become increasingly valuable as the global race to build artificial intelligence infrastructure accelerates, according to one economist. While the biggest bottleneck facing new data centres is access to power, the growing demand for semiconductors is creating an opportunity for Canadian helium producers because “there is no substitute” for the gas in semiconductor manufacturing, says Mauri Hall, economist at TD Economics. Hall notes that 30 per cent of the world’s helium production comes from the Ras Laffan facility in the Middle East. However, disruptions in …