Could A Helium Shortage Derail The Tech Boom?

Discovered over a century ago, helium was never intended for balloons. It wasn’t supposed to be a party gas. At the height of the Cold War, the United States recognized its strategic nature and started stockpiling it and controlling supply and pricing at a Federal Helium Reserve in Amarillo, Texas.  Three decades later, in the 1990s, the federal government decided that helium could be sold to private entities.

Now, reports say those reserves have been depleted, and the reserve is slated for shutdown in September, while the United States…