Ukraine invasion stops half the world's neon production, possibly worsening the chip crisis

Daniel Sims

Posts: 1,334   +43
Staff
Why it matters: As the world continues to grapple with the semiconductor shortage, Russia's invasion of Ukraine threatens to put a severe strain on one more important chip component. How long the war lasts will determine the severity of the disruption.

Around half of the world's supply of neon—needed for the lasers used in chip manufacturing—comes from two companies in Ukraine. Reuters reports that both have ceased production since the beginning of the Russian invasion. Market research from Techcet notes the US gets just under 50 percent of its supply from the region.

One of the companies, Ingas, is based in Mariupol, which is currently under attack from Russian forces. Mariupol is the same city in which a Russian airstrike hit a maternity hospital earlier this week. The other company, called Cryoin, stopped production the day the invasion started, though the city where it's based, Odessa, hasn't come under attack yet.

Soon after the invasion, chipmakers tried to downplay fears of further supply disruption. While they recognized Ukraine's importance in neon production, they also noted that manufacturers tend to keep stockpiles for emergencies. It's difficult to say how much neon various companies and their clients have stockpiled, but the production stoppage could cause severe problems within months.

Cryoin thinks it can hold out for three months with production stopped but may face more problems if its facilities are damaged, and it may face trouble getting raw materials needed for purifying neon. The central bank and economic ministry of Taiwan, where TSMC is based, say companies in that country have neon stockpiles.

Even though companies in other countries could supply neon, the invasion could increase prices. Other companies that aren't already producing neon could take months to years to ramp up, and it isn't yet clear how long the war or the semiconductor shortage will last. A TSMC R&D executive recently said that the chip shortage could last until 2024.

Permalink to story.

 
d97.jpg
 
Only a matter of time, like I said, until smne found a way to exploit the Ukrainian Situation to scr$w end customers.

Imagine, sm1 called me "nuts" and the sheep upvoted him too.
 
Told you so... building more fabs in the US and giving out almost 100 billion in tax evasion wont mean anything when russia controls more than half the neon production ... and china controls more than 70% of all silicon mines in thw world..
 
Curious as to why anyone would build a factory of anything in the Ukraine. Neon isnt mined as far as I am aware, its extracted from the air. Meaning you could build it anywhere. So apparently they chose the Ukraine, a place which has only been independent from the soviet union since 1990 and has been frought with corruption, terrorism and violent revolution for the entire time, on top of being the home for the worst nuclear disaster on this planet.

The west apparently wants to prolong this war for as long as possible by feeding the Ukrainian militas with guns and money but not actually sending their own armed forces in. This will have two effects, the assured destruction of everything in the Ukraine and a massive death toll. With that in mind they should probably start building Neon production facilities in a part of the world that the west dont intend to use as a battering ram against Russia or whomever.
 
Well, there goes all those neon signs behind streamers heads these days, their world is over. <sarcasm here>
 
Curious as to why anyone would build a factory of anything in the Ukraine. Neon isnt mined as far as I am aware, its extracted from the air. Meaning you could build it anywhere. So apparently they chose the Ukraine, a place which has only been independent from the soviet union since 1990 and has been frought with corruption, terrorism and violent revolution for the entire time, on top of being the home for the worst nuclear disaster on this planet.

The west apparently wants to prolong this war for as long as possible by feeding the Ukrainian militas with guns and money but not actually sending their own armed forces in. This will have two effects, the assured destruction of everything in the Ukraine and a massive death toll. With that in mind they should probably start building Neon production facilities in a part of the world that the west dont intend to use as a battering ram against Russia or whomever.

If I had to guess, I'd say environmental regulation is lax in Ukraine so that's why the factories are there - this, and cheap labor. What I'd like to know is why, after 7 years, the US-funded disease research facilities haven't been secured or shut down entirely.
 
Curious as to why anyone would build a factory of anything in the Ukraine. Neon isnt mined as far as I am aware, its extracted from the air. Meaning you could build it anywhere. So apparently they chose the Ukraine, a place which has only been independent from the soviet union since 1990 and has been frought with corruption, terrorism and violent revolution for the entire time, on top of being the home for the worst nuclear disaster on this planet.

The west apparently wants to prolong this war for as long as possible by feeding the Ukrainian militas with guns and money but not actually sending their own armed forces in. This will have two effects, the assured destruction of everything in the Ukraine and a massive death toll. With that in mind they should probably start building Neon production facilities in a part of the world that the west dont intend to use as a battering ram against Russia or whomever.

FYI - The USSR collapsed over 30 years ago. It's old history.
 
If I had to guess, I'd say environmental regulation is lax in Ukraine so that's why the factories are there - this, and cheap labor. What I'd like to know is why, after 7 years, the US-funded disease research facilities haven't been secured or shut down entirely.

Because Obama and Biden made sure they stayed open. That's why they tried to impeach Trump when he asked the Ukrainians to investigate Biden.
 
Told you so... building more fabs in the US and giving out almost 100 billion in tax evasion wont mean anything when russia controls more than half the neon production ... and china controls more than 70% of all silicon mines in thw world..

True. Russia and the Ukraine export over 1/3 of the worlds wheat. Russia supplies 60% of all German energy. There is literally no way the EU can make up for Russian energy. They're shooting themselves in the gonads.
 
Invest in commodities if you want to preserve your USD/EUR purchasing power as it's going to go down the toilet.
 
I doubt Bill Clinton saw any of this coming when they started our world dependent economy decades ago but now we have a major taste of it. It appears we are far too invested in it to start bringing all of these things back home so until our world leaders can understand the impact of their short sighted actions we will all suffer. I'm sure many are rightfully pointing the finger at Putin but the facts are that all of this was just one entanglement away and we've been living on borrowed time for a long time.

We simply need to find a way to live in a world together without resorting to these maddening adventures and find a way to prevent a single incident from throwing the entire world into ciaos ..... and I have no idea how that can be achieved .....
 
Told you so... building more fabs in the US and giving out almost 100 billion in tax evasion wont mean anything when russia controls more than half the neon production ... and china controls more than 70% of all silicon mines in thw world..
This is correct. According to the narratives, the shortages are in part due to shortage of raw material that the fabs require. Going 300% into fab creation is solving part of the problem. If the fabs can’t get enough material or even talents to run if, it’s just going to sit idle or running under capacity most if not all the time.
US is also constantly poking nations like China which will eventually come back and hit them hard. They failed to realised that there is significant interdependencies between nations. While they are technologically more advanced as it seems, there are materials and skill sets to produce their goods. They can say that they can move manufacturing back it elsewhere, but since they said that, I’ve not seen meaningful improvement in diversifying manufacturing outside of China.
 
LOL - All of this could have been avoided by simply negotiating with Putin. Russia actually has a legitimate grievance against Nato and Ukraine.

But the anti-Russia hysteria has blinded people.
 
LOL - All of this could have been avoided by simply negotiating with Putin. Russia actually has a legitimate grievance against Nato and Ukraine.

But the anti-Russia hysteria has blinded people.
It's more a question of people outsourcing their critical thinking to "trusted authorities" and "legitimate sources" and going with the flow. Before this, it was COVID. I'm sure once this has mopped up, assuming we didn't glass the planet, it will be something even more asinine.

The only thing public schools have done well is train people to do this, while the number of institutions actually teaching critical thinking is vanishingly small, and shrinking all the time.
 
This story is kind of alarmist. Air Liquide, one of my customers, produces nitrogen, oxygen, also neon, argon and other noble gasses via atmosphere air refraction. There are many other gas companies in the field that does the same. I seriously doubt that somehow Ukraine is producing 50% of world volume. Probably 50% within the local market sphere near Asia.
 
LOL - All of this could have been avoided by simply negotiating with Putin. Russia actually has a legitimate grievance against Nato and Ukraine.

But the anti-Russia hysteria has blinded people.
The amount of Russian trolls activated now is stuggering. So, tell Me, does Putin pays by a post or an hour? How much?
Also, You will NEVER win This war. For some time now Ukrainians come to UE to make beds in our hotels, make coffee in our restaurants, drive trucks delivering food to our shops, change diapers in our kindergartens and, as brutal as it sounds, wash the sh*t off the beds of our grandparents in elderly homes. They are almost in EU and NATO. Everyone in EU suffering from growing prices of fuel, wheat and neon. You effectively started a World War III, You little russian f*ckers and I hope You will all die of hunger, even It It means I will never buy another GPU.
 
Last edited:
LOL - All of this could have been avoided by simply negotiating with Putin. Russia actually has a legitimate grievance against Nato and Ukraine.

But the anti-Russia hysteria has blinded people.

What legitimate grievance would that be?

Ukraine's territorial integrity and the alliances it chooses to pursue are not issues that require Russia's approval. And 'ethnic Russians' can relocate if they don't want to be Ukrainian citizens.
 
I would really like to see some good statistics on where Neon is being produced, but I couldn't find it. Would've been a nice addition to the article.

The west apparently wants to prolong this war for as long as possible by feeding the Ukrainian militas with guns and money but not actually sending their own armed forces in. This will have two effects, the assured destruction of everything in the Ukraine and a massive death toll. With that in mind they should probably start building Neon production facilities in a part of the world that the west dont intend to use as a battering ram against Russia or whomever.

It's a terrible situation, but your solution would be to just bend over, let the West abandon the Ukrainian people who want to fight on, and leave Ukraine to be taken over by Russia?
"battering ram against Russia"? As if Russia is being attacked. What a stupid choice of words.

Way to sound like a Putin shill.
 
LOL - All of this could have been avoided by simply negotiating with Putin. Russia actually has a legitimate grievance against Nato and Ukraine.

But the anti-Russia hysteria has blinded people.

The Russian regime and the military have acted like scum in Ukraine. Anyone who makes excuses for it is no better.
 
Back