The increasingly prolonged disruption to helium supplies flowing through the Strait of Hormuz risks triggering sporadic shortages and rationing by July, potentially disrupting parts of Asia's semiconductor industry and affecting supplies to others, such as automakers and certain electronics manufacturers. The helium industry has been burning through inventories since the Feb. 28 U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran led to Iranian retaliation across the Gulf, shuttering Qatar's helium exports that, prior to the war, accounted for 33% of the global supply that undergirds a range of key industries. While Iran and the United States maintain a fragile ceasefire and are attempting to negotiate an end to the war that would pave the way for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen, talks have floundered in recent days after U.S. President Donald Trump called Iran's latest response to a deal "a piece of garbage.