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North Carolina quartz miners Sibelco and Quartz Corp. both suspended operations on Sept. 26 and said it’s too early to say when production will resume.
The two operations account for more than 80% of the world’s supply of commercial high-purity quartz, BloombergNEF said in a report last year.
About 20,000 tons a year of extremely high-purity quartz are produced at Spruce Pine, BNEF solar analyst Jenny Chase said in a note on Tuesday. The mineral is important to both the solar and semiconductor industries, because it’s used to make the inner layer in crucibles, she said
The impact on the global chipmaking sector remains unclear, given semiconductor firms are adept at stockpiling essential components and the operations in North Carolina are expected to eventually resume.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. — the world’s largest chipmaker — and Germany’s Infineon Technologies AG said in statements they were keeping tabs on the situation but didn’t anticipate any significant impact to their operations. South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. said they also don’t expect repercussions. TSMC supplier Topco Scientific Co., which processes quartz, said it is reviewing its inventory and is in close touch with all suppliers.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chip...ShjNS4ML1egRRggEPC3m7p5rZ7jPzFbV-5TsunaOLDUlL
It is possible to use less pure quartz to create the same materials, but it’s a slower and more expensive process than using the ultra-high-quality materials that Spruce Pine has "far and away" the most of, economist Ed Conway told NPR.
Roads and rain lines in Mitchell County, North Carolina have been extensively damaged, The News and Observer reported, which stands to further impact the companies' ability to transport materials even as the mines are able to reopen.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryro...-the-worlds-semiconductor-industry-heres-why/
Viral social media posts have claimed that due to the flooding, global production of semiconductors could halt. This doomsday scenario is unlikely, but experts are gravely concerned about the impact the flooding could have on the tech industry and the economic ramifications of prolonged supply chain pressures caused by the shutdown of the site.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/202...z-mines-offline-threatens-tech-supply-chains/
This story originally appeared on wired.com.
The two operations account for more than 80% of the world’s supply of commercial high-purity quartz, BloombergNEF said in a report last year.
About 20,000 tons a year of extremely high-purity quartz are produced at Spruce Pine, BNEF solar analyst Jenny Chase said in a note on Tuesday. The mineral is important to both the solar and semiconductor industries, because it’s used to make the inner layer in crucibles, she said
The impact on the global chipmaking sector remains unclear, given semiconductor firms are adept at stockpiling essential components and the operations in North Carolina are expected to eventually resume.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. — the world’s largest chipmaker — and Germany’s Infineon Technologies AG said in statements they were keeping tabs on the situation but didn’t anticipate any significant impact to their operations. South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. said they also don’t expect repercussions. TSMC supplier Topco Scientific Co., which processes quartz, said it is reviewing its inventory and is in close touch with all suppliers.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chip...ShjNS4ML1egRRggEPC3m7p5rZ7jPzFbV-5TsunaOLDUlL
It is possible to use less pure quartz to create the same materials, but it’s a slower and more expensive process than using the ultra-high-quality materials that Spruce Pine has "far and away" the most of, economist Ed Conway told NPR.
Roads and rain lines in Mitchell County, North Carolina have been extensively damaged, The News and Observer reported, which stands to further impact the companies' ability to transport materials even as the mines are able to reopen.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryro...-the-worlds-semiconductor-industry-heres-why/
Viral social media posts have claimed that due to the flooding, global production of semiconductors could halt. This doomsday scenario is unlikely, but experts are gravely concerned about the impact the flooding could have on the tech industry and the economic ramifications of prolonged supply chain pressures caused by the shutdown of the site.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/202...z-mines-offline-threatens-tech-supply-chains/
This story originally appeared on wired.com.
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