Hurricane Helene Took Out NC Town the Entire Tech World Relies On

The small town of Spruce Pine, North Carolina, which supplies high-purity quartz essential for semiconductor production, is reeling from the damage caused by Tropical Storm Helene. An anonymous reader quotes a report from Axios: Spruce Pine is one of the only places in the world to mine high-purity quartz. The mineral is an essential ingredient of chips in countless products, including medical devices, solar panels, cellphones and the chips powering the latest tech craze: artificial intelligence. It's difficult to underscore the significance of Spruce Pine -- a town of about 2,000 people, known for its charming downtown and blossoming arts scene -- to the global economy. Economics editor Ed Conway put it best in his 2023 book 'Material World,' writing: 'It is rare, unheard of almost, for a single site to control the global supply of a crucial material. Yet if you want to get high-purity quartz -- the kind you need to make those crucibles without which you can't make silicon wafers -- it has to come from Spruce Pine.'

The Quartz Corp and Sibelco both export high-purity quartz from Spruce Pine. While there are other places to find the material, such as Russia and Brazil, this mountain town has the highest quantity of the highest purity, says Conway. A few weeks of shutdown is not the end of the world, Conway tells Axios. However, longer than that could put the industry into 'another crisis.' The semiconductor industry would need to find alternatives. The mines in Spruce Pine are still accounting for their workers and families, the international companies stated. The level of destruction at the sites is unknown. However, even if the facilities are intact, the railroads that move the quartz will likely need drastic repairs. The Quartz Corp and Sibelco temporarily halted operations on Sept. 26 and haven't said when they might reopen. 'This is second order of priority,' The Quartz Corp said in a statement. 'Our top priority remains the health and safety of our employees and their families.'

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