Helene may halt the semiconductor industry via one quartz mine
Tom KirkmanIndependent Project Manager
The entire semiconductor industry may come to screeching halt due to the effects of Hurricane Helene.
Screencap is from today.
The article quoted below is from March 2024.
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“The world’s semiconductor industry hinges on a single quartz factory in North Carolina.
A Wharton professor who studies AI, innovation, and start-ups dramatically claims that “the modern economy rests on a single road in Spruce Pine, North Carolina.”
Ethan Mollick explains that this unremarkable road leads to a Sibelco North America Inc. facility where ultra-high-purity quartz is mined.
This location is vitally important as it is claimed to be “the sole supplier of the quartz required to make the crucibles needed to refine silicon wafers.”
The modern economy rests on a single road in Spruce Pine, North Carolina.
The road runs to the two mines that is the sole supplier of the quartz required to make the crucibles needed to refine silicon wafers.
There are no alternative sources known. …”