Some of the biggest chip makers across the globe say they do not expect any disruption from the temporary closures of the quartz mines critical for semiconductor manufacturing due to Hurricane Helene. TSMC, Infineon Technologies, Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix have all released statements to this effect, according to the South China Morning Post, especially as high purity quartz from the mines near Spruce Pine, North Carolina is crucial for the production of the crucibles needed to create silicon wafers.
Quartz isn’t a direct ingredient in the chips we have today. However, silicon wafer manufacturers require a crucible made from 99.99999999% quartz to create the pure silicon needed using the Czochralski process. There are other sources of high-quality quartz elsewhere globally, plus other techniques to produce synthetic equivalents. However, author Ed Conway says Spruce Pine has this “unique combination of purity, availability, and price.”
Sibelco North America and The Quartz Corporation are the two quartz mine operators in the area devastated by the hurricane. Many mining facilities are located by water sources. If the news reports are accurate, they would likely have been inundated with flood waters during the storm, potentially causing massive damage and requiring extensive cleanup before operations could resume.
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.
In the meantime, most semiconductor companies have a stockpile of silicon wafers, so even if supplies are disrupted for a few weeks to a few months, we won’t run out of chips. Hopefully, by then, the Spruce Pine mines will have restarted their operations. But even if their reopening is delayed, manufacturers could source their quartz needs elsewhere, although it would likely be at a slightly higher price.
