Hurricane Helene's devastation has shut down a one-of-a-kind mine for AI chips
The town of Spruce Pine, North Carolina, is home to two mines that are major sources of high-purity quartz, a key material for making semiconductors.
Chipmakers aren’t worried about U.S. quartz mine closures due to Hurricane Helene — many don’t expect significant repercussions
However, aside from damages to their facilities and infrastructure, the more critical issue they need to address is to account for their people and their families. Hurricane Helene has left over 190 dead and hundreds more missing, with over half of the casualties coming from North Carolina.
Hurricane Helene's devastation has blocked access to a one-of-a-kind mine for AI chips
The town of Spruce Pine, North Carolina, is home to two mines that are major sources of high-purity quartz, a key material for making semiconductors.
Chip Firms Watching Quartz Supply After Hurricane Shut Mines
Global semiconductor makers are monitoring supplies of high-purity quartz, a material critical to the industry, after Hurricane Helene halted production at two North Carolina mines that produce most of the world’s supply.
Hurricane Helene Shutters 'Critical' Quartz Mines That Power the World's Electronics, Solar Panels and A.I.
High-quality quartz is the cornerstone of the semiconductors operating nearly every tech gadget worldwide. Cellphones, solar panels and artificial intelligence all rely on this resource. However, such pure quartz is rare—it can only be found at a handful of places on Earth.
TSMC, Samsung, other major chip makers monitor quartz supply after hurricane shut mines
Hurricane Helene halted production at two US mines that produce most of the world’s supply of high-purity quartz, a material critical to making semiconductors.
Grist on MSN8h
The solar supply chain runs through this flooded North Carolina town
Due to a quirk of geology, the purest quartz in all the world comes from the picturesque town of Spruce Pine, North Carolina.
Your Phones and Computers Rely on This Remote North Carolina Mine. Helene Just Walloped It.
Those mines are now closed indefinitely, after Hurricane Helene dumped 2 feet of water on Spruce Pine, devastating the area.
NPR7d
A tiny town just got slammed by Helene. It could massively disrupt the tech industry
Spruce Pine received 24.12 inches of rain from Helene ... it would “pose a serious problem for the production” of silicon ingots needed in the photovoltaic, or PV, industry.
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Single Point of Failure: Hurricane Helene and High-Tech’s Low-Tech Vulnerability
Among the horrific reports about the damage Hurricane Helene unleashed on the southeastern United States was one about Spruce ...
Helene catastrophe might create downstream disaster for tech industry
Deep in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina lies the small town of Spruce Pine, which also happens to ...
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Helene forces closure of North Carolina quartz facilities, disrupting tech supply chain
Hurricane Helene forced the shutdown of two key quartz manufacturing facilities in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, operated by ...