Companies that mine high-purity quartz in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, suspended operations after Hurricane Helene. Quartz is an important part of the chip manufacturing process – and it is only found in spruce pine.
The region's two mining companies, Sibelco and The Quartz Corp, confirmed that flooding, power outages and the displacement of employees have caused them to suspend work. In a statement on its website, Sibelco confirmed that as of September 26, it has “temporarily suspended operations at the Spruce Pine facilities in response to these challenges”:
We are working closely with our local team to safely resume operations as quickly as possible and are actively coordinating with local authorities and other partners to manage the situation. Our top priority remains the health, safety and well-being of our employees and ensuring the security of the Spruce Pine facility.
Spruce Pine has the only naturally occurring quartz pure enough to serve as a crucible for melting polysilicon. The polysilicon is then used to make silicon wafers – the basis of the semiconductors found in phones, laptops, solar panels and more. According to a report in 2008, a fire in Spruce Pine halted mining operations and gave the chip industry “goosebumps.” Wired.
It's too early to tell what impact the disruptions will have on the chip manufacturing supply chain, but as we've seen in the past, it doesn't take much to disrupt them.