South Korea’s chip industry is concerned that a prolonged Iranian crisis will disrupt supplies of key materials from the Middle East and increase chip prices due to a spike in energy costs, a ruling party lawmaker said on Thursday, Reuters reports.

The chip industry also warned the crisis could deal a setback to plans by big tech firms to build AI data centres in the Middle East for the longer term, thus weighing on strong chip demand, lawmaker Kim Young-bae said.

The chip industry is also worried that the Iran crisis could disrupt supplies of some key chip-making materials like helium from the Middle East, Kim said. Helium is essential for heat management during semiconductor production and it has no viable alternatives currently.