Production of the ultra-pure quartz is below pre-storm levels, and critical infrastructure for shipping the mineral is ...

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 ...

Two primary mining companies in North Carolina that produce the world's highest quality quartz used to make silicon chips and ...

Few, if any, other places on earth match Spruce Pine quartz for quality. A lack of water in the region around 380 million ...

Hurricane Helene's impact on a small North Carolina town reveals the tech industry's vulnerability to disruptions in the ...

Spruce Pine is a major global supplier of high-purity quartz. It’s an essential ingredient for microchips and solar panels.

Hurricane Helene's closure of two essential quartz mines in North Carolina reveals the precarity of the solar energy product ...

Helene shut down the Spruce Pine mines that produce ultra-pure quartz, and some fear that could cause shortages and higher ...

And with this singular supply of ultra-pure quartz cut off for the foreseeable future, the world’s supply of chips hangs in the balance. To be clear, Spruce Pine is not the only place on the ...

"The best material for those crucibles is ultra-pure quartz. Spruce Pine is the source of the purest natural quartz ever found on Earth.” An estimated 70-90% of the crucibles used worldwide are ...

Among the areas affected is the small town of Spruce Pine, which is home to high-purity quartz mines, the only facilities that produce ultra-pure quartz in the world. High-purity quartz is vital ...

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Hurricane Helene has exposed a little-known vulnerability in the semiconductor supply chain, after flooding ...