NPR explains why the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina is ringing alarm bells across the global tech industry. Because nearly every semiconductor and solar panel made relies on pure quartzite, and nearly all of that comes from mineral deposits near the mountain town of Spruce Pine, North Carolina:
To make both semiconductors and solar panels, companies need crucibles and other equipment that both can withstand extraordinarily high heat and be kept absolutely clean. One material fits the bill: quartz. Pure quartz.
Quartz that comes, overwhelmingly, from Spruce Pine.
“As far as we know, there’s only a few places in the world that have ultra-high-quality quartz,” according to Ed Conway, author of Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization. Russia and Brazil also supply high-quality quartz, he says, but “Spruce Pine has far and away the [largest amount] and highest quality.”
Conway says without super-pure quartz for the crucibles, which can often be used only a single time, it would be impossible to produce most semiconductors.
“Purity really does matter,” he says. “You’re talking about a process to create the silicon wafers that later become silicon chips, where one single atom being in the wrong place” could derail production.
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Power, water and cellular service are all down, [local business development leader Spencer] Bost says. Fallen trees and washed-out roads have left the community isolated from the outside.
“We were there for about three days before we got enough chainsaws together to cut a path out of our neighborhood,” Bost says. He and his fiancée spent nine hours working their way to Greenville, N.C., where they’ve temporarily sought shelter.
The conditions at the mines that produce the quartz remain unclear. “We are in a phase of assessing the situation, and it is far too early to comment on the impact to high-purity quartz production,” Mary Kristin Haugen of the Quartz Corporation told NPR in a statement.