Balloons To Backorders - How Helium Messes With Cars

In Wheel Time Podcast · Apr 24, 2026 · 29m · transcript

Helium is the last thing most drivers think about until a car can’t ship because a chip can’t ship. We follow a surprising thread from helium balloons to the clean rooms where semiconductors are made, and why a strained global helium supply can raise fresh questions about automotive chip availability. If you remember the pandemic-era semiconductor shortage, this conversation makes one thing clear: the next bottleneck might come from a material most of us never associate with cars.

We break down what helium actually does inside a semiconductor fab, including how it helps purge contamination…