How helium can be used as a source of energy

Will Gray, CEO of New Era Helium, joins TheStreet to explain how helium can be used for way more than filling up balloons.

Transcript

00:00So, many people may not know that helium can be used as a form of energy, so what are some

00:06of the things it's used for?

00:10You know, that's a great question, because again, being from the Permian Basin in West

00:13Texas, it's, you know, I'm very well versed in oil and hydrocarbons and that nature, but

00:19from a helium perspective, it's been a very steep learning curve, understanding what is

00:25the end application for this, one of the second lightest elements on the periodic table.

00:31Obviously, I think what most people gravitate towards is party balloons for your kids.

00:36That was kind of my number one assumption, which was grossly incorrect.

00:40Actually, on a side note, the balloon market worldwide is only about 10% of the overall

00:47end use for helium.

00:49Prior to 2024, it was more the health sciences, so really think about MRIs.

00:56So if you were going in there to have an MRI, helium was used to cool the liquid magnets.

01:02That was the number one end use application.

01:05Now what's really interesting dynamic that has really overtaken that is the use of semiconductors.

01:13You cannot essentially, so think of AI, think of what NVIDIA, think of what TSMC is wanting

01:18to accomplish in growing their nano AI chip market.

01:23With any semiconductors, helium is part of that supply chain to essentially create that product.

01:28That's your number one end use application right now is for semiconductors.

01:33Aggressively growing right now is the aerospace business, so looking for rocket launches.

01:37So of course, some of the larger users there are going to be NASA, SpaceX, URL.

01:43So those are your top three.

01:46Then of course, you start talking about welding, pipeline inspection, things of that nature.

01:51So there's quite a broad spectrum of how helium is utilized.

01:55And again, it's a scarce commodity, so understanding how it's being utilized in the most efficient

02:01manner is pretty important.