The United States on Friday designated helium a critical material because it is essential for making semiconductors essential for energy production, and global supplies are at risk of disruption, according to the Energy Department.
The designation by the Department of Energy means more federal funding will be available to helium producers and the government will monitor it more closely. Helium is primarily produced as a byproduct of natural gas processing. The United States is the world’s largest producer of natural gas and helium. Qatar and Russia are the other main producers of helium.
Qatar’s helium exports have been severely reduced by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to its war with Israel and by Iranian strikes on Qatar’s infrastructure which also impacted supplies. Russia imposed temporary controls on the export of helium in April to protect its domestic supply.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the Trump administration is freeing America from its reliance on foreign sources of critical materials, strengthening the domestic manufacturing industry, supporting American jobs and securing materials critical to U.S. economic and national security.
“President Trump is bringing back American manufacturing, and that means making sure we have the materials we need to build things in America again,” Wright said in a statement.
Helium is the 20th critical material identified by the DOE
The metallurgical coal used for the manufacture of steel was last to be added, in 2025. The only other gas on the list is fluorine.
To be included on the critical materials list, a non-combustible mineral element or substance must serve an essential function in one or more energy technologies and there must be a high risk of supply chain disruption.
Helium makes balloons rise, but that’s not why the DOE is interested in it. Helium plays an important role in wind, solar and nuclear power generation, space exploration, medical imaging and research.
Deputy Energy Secretary Audrey Robertson said helium’s unique properties make it irreplaceable, such as the fact that it is non-combustible and has the lowest boiling point of all gases. The country needs an adequate supply of semiconductors, quantum computing and supercomputers, as well as superconducting magnets, added Robertson, who oversees the Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation.
“We need to make sure we can build them here. And helium is one of those components that could be a single point of failure, where we can’t let that happen. That’s why we designate it as part of our statutory authority, but I think the reason it’s important is not necessarily for our birthday parties,” Robertson said in an interview. “This is really about the future of American competitiveness and energy security, which we believe is national security.”
David Isaacs, vice president of the Semiconductor Industry Association trade group, noted that helium plays a critical role in cooling, photolithography, leak detection and much more.
“We look forward to continuing to work with governments and industry leaders in the United States and around the world to strengthen the resilience of the semiconductor supply chain,” Isaacs said.
The United States designates both minerals and critical materials, and there is some crossover between them. The U.S. Geological Survey included helium on a 2018 list of critical minerals, but subsequent lists omitted it because the national helium supply was considered safe.
Despite environmental concerns about recovering helium from natural gas, there are also opportunities, said Greeshma Gadikota, director of the Lenfast Center for Sustainable Energy at Columbia University.
“If we burn natural gas, it causes a lot of CO2 emissions,” Gadikota said. “But if you just extract the helium and use it, its uses don’t necessarily contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
“So from a climate perspective, if we want to continue to extract natural gas and recover helium,” she added, “I would prefer to see natural gas used in a form where we directly produce hydrogen and solid carbon. » Hydrogen is a clean-burning fuel, and solid carbon can provide permanent carbon sequestration and can be widely used in industrial applications including rubber and pigments.
US helium production is limited
There once existed a strategic national stockpile of helium in Texas, much like The United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Congress in 2013 ordered its privatization. The Bureau of Land Management has finalized the sale of the Federal Helium System to industrial gas company Messer in 2024.
The United States produced 81 million cubic meters of helium in 2025, or 43% of the world’s supply. Of this amount, 38 million cubic meters of helium were exported. The United States has produced approximately 80 million cubic meters of helium per year since 2021.
There are significant helium reserves in Wyoming, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Utah. Although there are abundant helium resources, helium extraction plants have reached their limits and it takes years to license and build new ones, which continues to limit U.S. production, according to the DOE.
The plants extracting the most helium, in 2023, were located in Kansas, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Oklahoma, according to federal data.
Some in the helium industry have urged the U.S. government to officially designate helium as a critical resource. The North American Gas Exploration Company Avanti Helium Corp. says it’s urgentand an increase in North American supply is necessary to avoid becoming dependent on foreign sources.
“We are very pleased that helium is recognized as a critical material,” said Chris Bakker, CEO of Avanti Helium. “The United States has the potential to remain self-sufficient in helium. However, this will require investment in the exploration of new reserves and the listing of critical materials will provide significant support to these efforts.”
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