this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2026
131 points (99.2% liked)

Global News

6407 readers
589 users here now

What is global news?

Something that happened or was uncovered recently anywhere in the world. It doesn't have to have global implications. Just has to be informative in some way.


Post guidelines

Title formatPost title should mirror the news source title.
URL formatPost URL should be the original link to the article (even if paywalled) and archived copies left in the body. It allows avoiding duplicate posts when cross-posting.
[Opinion] prefixOpinion (op-ed) articles must use [Opinion] prefix before the title.
Country prefixCountry prefix can be added to the title with a separator (|, :, etc.) where title is not clear enough from which country the news is coming from.


Rules

This community is moderated in accordance with the principles outlined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which emphasizes the right to freedom of opinion and expression. In addition to this foundational principle, we have some additional rules to ensure a respectful and constructive environment for all users.

1. English onlyTitle and associated content has to be in English.
2. No social media postsAvoid all social media posts. Try searching for a source that has a written article or transcription on the subject.
3. Respectful communicationAll communication has to be respectful of differing opinions, viewpoints, and experiences.
4. InclusivityEveryone is welcome here regardless of age, body size, visible or invisible disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, caste, color, religion, or sexual identity and orientation. Any kind of discrimination is will not be tolerated.
5. Ad hominem attacksAny kind of personal attacks are expressly forbidden. If you can't argue your position without attacking a person's character, you already lost the argument.
6. Off-topic tangentsStay on topic. Keep it relevant.
7. Instance rules may applyIf something is not covered by community rules, but are against lemmy.zip instance rules, they will be enforced.


Companion communities

Icon generated via LLM model | Banner attribution


If someone is interested in moderating this community, message @brikox@lemmy.zip.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Qatar supplies a third of the world's helium, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, but the nation had to halt production shortly after the war erupted three weeks ago.

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://fortune.com/2026/03/21/iran-war-helium-shortage-qatar-chip-supply-chains-ai-boom/


Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

all 29 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Steve@startrek.website 35 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Too bad you cant just bomb AI itself

[–] curiousaur@reddthat.com 21 points 1 week ago

You literally can. The data centers are fragile as fuck.

[–] LMurch@thelemmy.club 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Since AI is running the Defense Department, if we tried to bomb AI, wouldn't it just go, "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that"?

[–] tiny_hedgehog@piefed.social 20 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Finally… some good news.

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It's also needed in medical diagnostics.

[–] tiny_hedgehog@piefed.social 15 points 1 week ago

Alright, back to bad news.

[–] youcantreadthis@quokk.au 4 points 1 week ago

Nobody in qatar who deserves to live was ever gonna get an mri.

[–] rafoix@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 week ago

lol this shit is getting funnier by the day.

[–] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

When these AI companies eat shit, we can buy their stuff cheap. But maybe they'll still be valuable with the shortage. Sigh.

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

No way. Nvidia will buy them back and throw them away so they don’t flood their market, like they did for crypto booms.

AMD, too.

[–] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Or they get destroyed for tax purposes. So much waste.

Dumpster diving anyone? We should go work at one when they go under and go by our cars on way to dumpster.

[–] Vex_Detrause@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Let's say we get access to those. What can a regular person do with them? Can we use it as a daily driver computer? Or are we talking about GPUs on the cheap?

[–] youcantreadthis@quokk.au 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Im told some of the ram is salvageable.

[–] Siegfried@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

As i understand, its not the same ram we christians use

[–] youcantreadthis@quokk.au 2 points 1 week ago

I thought some of it was like laptop ram. Damn.

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

For the H100 and up? They’re headless, basically compute only, as they don’t have enough ROPs to game.

I think the A100 technically can game, in the same way you’d use a laptop GPU not hooked up to the display. They’re kinda like giant RTX 3090/ though, so YMMV.

They’re great at GPU compute apps though, same as any regular Nvidia card would be.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 week ago

And hard drives! They might be SAS or some stuff though, cards are a bit expensive for SAS drives, ask le and my cheap 3TB drive how we know...

[–] stephen01king@piefed.zip 6 points 1 week ago

Oh no! Anyway...

[–] Danarchy@lemmy.nz 6 points 1 week ago

Scapegoat located

[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 5 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Hold on to your phones like they were the very last ones ever made. No helium = no computing at all.

Hard drives use helium. Aluminum/tig and other Welding uses helium, all chip making processes use helium, laser cutters use helium, fusion energy LOL, uses helium like a total bitch. Some chemistry uses helium.

We are soooo fucked.

[–] fallaciousBasis@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

#Mycabbages!

[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Party balloons.... Some use hydrogen and methane.. Right?

[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 1 points 1 week ago

And then we have dumb uses for helium:

[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 1 points 1 week ago

Helium-icon microscopes, an alternative to scanning electron microscopes.

Leak detection is needed to check Air Conditioners.....let that sink in!!!!!!!!!