Helium is more than party balloons. Why Australia needs to take this invisible gas seriously 2026-06-19T10:09:00+10:00 Helium quietly keeps MRI scanners, semiconductor factories and quantum computers running. But even though global supply is scarce, Australia may be venting a resource that could help secure its technological future. For many people, helium means party balloons, squeaky voices and birthday decorations. But if helium supply runs short, the impact is likely to be felt somewhere much more serious: in hospitals, research laboratories, semiconductor factories and the emerging quantum computing industry. “Helium’s use in non-essential party balloons is obvious, but its role in essential data and computing is not,” says Dr Arup George, a researcher in the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications at UNSW. That role is becoming more important as the world builds more MRI machines, more advanced computer chips, more fibre-optic cables, more AI data centres and more quantum computers. Media enquiries For enquiries about this story and interview requests please contact Neil Martin, News & Content Coordinator. Email: n.martin@unsw.edu.au The problem is that helium is not like many other industrial gases. It cannot be made at scale when needed. It is produced naturally underground over immense periods of time, usually recovered as a by-product of natural gas, and once released into the atmosphere it can escape Earth altogether. That makes helium a small but strategically important resource — and one Australia may be able to do much more with. Why does helium matter? Helium has unusual properties that make it useful in places where other gases do not work as well. One of its most important uses is in MRI scanners. These machines create very powerful magnetic fields to produce detailed images of the inside of the human body. To do that, they rely on superconducting magnets — coils