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
I’ve worked in the semiconductor industry for over 40 years. Quartz is used in many high temperature manufacturing tools. It’s a consumable item over the course of a year or so, some can be pulled cleaned and reused, some needs replacement. Sensitive to power outages. Lead times have been horrendous the last few years, sometimes 6 mo to a year to get something. We don’t stock enough in house to cover us in the event of a bad power loss. This isn’t good news, i’ll have to ask around and see if this impacts us at all…