HK Stock Market Move | GigaDevice Semiconductor Inc. (03986) rose nearly 6% during trading hours, with increasing shipping risks. The ongoing or worsening interruption of helium supply may exacerbate the shortage of DRAM.

GigaDevice Semiconductor Inc. (03986) rose nearly 6% during the trading session. As of the time of writing, it rose 3.22% to HK$371.6, with a trading volume of HK$240 million. On the news front, according to market media reports, with the increasing shipping risks in the Hormuz Strait, the supply chain of key raw materials such as helium has begun to fluctuate. Helium, as a core industrial gas required for semiconductor manufacturing, is mainly extracted from liquefied natural gas (LNG). To avoid risks escalating, major chip companies in South Korea such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have conducted a comprehensive inspection of their helium inventory. Seagate executives stated that if the interruption in helium supply lasts for more than a few weeks, chip manufacturers may be forced to allocate more capacity to artificial intelligence storage, exacerbating the already severe shortage of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM). Recently, a study pointed out that the shutdown of the Qatar Ras Laffan LNG project has led to a global interruption in about one-third of helium production. Helium is a critical material in the chip production chain, with no readily available substitutes at the moment.