Two major signals out of the United States this month point to a shifting landscape in how policymakers view the security of the raw materials underpinning modern technology. The US Geological Survey (USGS) has formally added copper to the federal Critical Minerals List for 2025 - a move that reflects rising import reliance and the strategic importance of metals essential to grid expansion, electrification, and next-generation computing. Almost simultaneously, OpenAI called on the U.S. Government to support the build-out of large-scale AI data-center infrastructure, requesting expanded tax credits, power-grid upgrades, and the creation of strategic raw-material reserves to ensure future growth.
Taken together, these developments are no coincidence; they highlight a broader theme: the world’s digital ambitions depend on reliable, affordable, and secure access to physical supply chains. And while metals such as copper and aluminum are currently in the spotlight, an equally important resource sits quietly in the background - helium, the inert gas that underpins critical stages of chip fabrication, cooling systems, quantum research, fiber-optic manufacturing, and high-integrity leak detection. As AI workloads multiply and data-center campuses expand in both number and scale, helium’s role is rising in parallel.
Reliable data-center infrastructure has become the backbone of the AI systems we now rely on daily. As hyperscale cloud providers race to deploy ever greater computational capacity, the demands on cooling systems, high-performance servers, and the semiconductors driving AI acceleration increase in lockstep. In these environments - packed with cutting-edge technological hardware - helium’s unique properties - inertness, an extremely low boiling point, and exceptional thermal conductivity - make it irreplaceable across multiple processes and mission-critical to the seamless operation of modern data centers.
The USGS’s decision to elevate copper signals that Washington is increasingly willing to recognize and address supply-chain vulnerability. OpenAI’s call for government support further underscores the scale of infrastructure required to power artificial intelligence. Helium, although still outside the formal ‘critical minerals’ framework, fits squarely into this broader context: it is essential, difficult to substitute, and sourced from only a handful of safe-jurisdiction regions worldwide. With domestic supply dwindling and demand poised to rise across multiple high-growth sectors, new secure supply will soon be urgently required.
For Pulsar Helium Inc., this represents a timely alignment of market forces. With its flagship Topaz Project located in Minnesota - a stable, transparent, and strategically positioned U.S. jurisdiction - the Company is advancing one of the few primary helium assets potentially capable of addressing future domestic demand. As AI infrastructure expands, the requirement for high-purity helium appears set to accelerate, creating a compelling opportunity for investors tracking the essential enablers of the digital economy - far beyond its front-end software layer.
Pulsar Helium’s shares trade on TSXV: PLSR | OTCQB: PSRHF | AIM: PLSR
www.pulsarhelium.com
Disclaimer
This article contains information based on current market conditions and publicly available data. It does not constitute financial advice, and investors should conduct their own due diligence before making any investment decisions.
Marc Farrington PR & Partnerships marc@pulsarhelium.com #PLSRINSIGHTS Follow us on X