I'm hearing that the all-important quartz factory is gone? If so, this is HUGE!!! "The quartz mine needed to refine silicone needed to make anything electronic in North Carolina is gone, thus far this is only known source in the world for this type of quartz."
Article from March 2024: The world's semiconductor industry hinges on a single quartz factory in North Carolina, "the sole supplier of the quartz required to make the crucibles needed to refine silicon wafers." "However, any sudden closure or interruption of the mining at Spruce Pine would likely cause "pretty catastrophic" disruption (and extra expense) for a few years as the industry scales up manufacturing." https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/the-worlds-semiconductor-industry-hinges-on-a-quartz-factory-in-north-carolina
This is really not good. It's hard to believe this was an accident. There were warnings like this:
https://www.viksnewsletter.com/p/the-semiconductor-apocalypse-no-one
Way back in April, hinting that this was a supply bottleneck. I just don't believe in coincidences any more. This is way too convenient a location for a flood.
The price of silicon wafers was already in the stratosphere (a single 3nm silicon wafer is over $20K), and now it appears nobody will be able to replace the crucibles needed to keep producing, let alone ramp up production to meet increasing demand from all the new foundries.