Will Hurricane Helen derail semiconductor production?

The worst hurricane to hit the continental United States since Hurricane Katrina has also garnered attention for its potential disruption to the technology industry. The destruction caused by Hurricane Helen threatened one of the industry’s key supply chains: a mining town in North Carolina that supplies high-purity quartz, which is essential to making the chips in smartphones and data centers around the world. are.

The mining town of Spruce Pine was one of many communities in the U.S. affected by Hurricane Helen, which killed more than 200 people, displaced thousands and knocked out power to more than 1 million homes and businesses across multiple states. . The storm pushed 900 kilometers inland from the Florida coast, causing widespread and deadly flooding and reaching deep into North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, where the Spruce Pine Quartz Mine is located.

Here’s what you need to know about how Helen’s ripple effects could impact the tech industry.

Why is high purity quartz so important?

High-purity quartz can withstand the high temperatures needed to melt silicon, so it’s used to make fused silica crucibles, the cylindrical vessels that are key to the chip-making process. Semiconductor-grade polysilicon has a melting point temperature of approximately 1425°C (2597°F), while quartz crucibles can typically withstand temperatures up to 1650°C (3000°F).

During the chip manufacturing process, a fused silica crucible is filled with molten silicon. Silicon seed crystals are dipped into molten silicon in a rotating crucible and allowed to grow into very large silicon ingots before being gradually pulled out. A fully grown ingot can weigh more than 500 kg.

These silicon ingots can be cut into silicon wafers, which can be imprinted with transistor patterns that form the basis of modern computer chips.

Where does high purity crystal come from?

Natural deposits of quartz found in Spruce Pine began about 300 million years ago when North America and Africa collided to form the supercontinent Pangea. In the process, the Appalachian Mountains were formed, and part of Earth’s oceanic crust was subducted beneath North America, where intense heat and pressure near the planet’s mantle melted oceanic sediments and rocks.

The resulting lava cooled slowly over time, forming deposits of pegmatite rock containing large mineral crystals containing high-purity quartz. These pegmatite layers eventually became accessible close to the surface due to geological uplift and increased weathering.

How did Hurricane Helen impact quartz mining operations?

The Spruce Pine Mining District currently hosts quartz mining and refining operations owned by Belgium-based Sibelco and Norway-based The Quartz Corporation. Both companies suspended operations on September 26 and have not yet announced when they will resume operations.

Both companies said they had confirmed the safety of employees and contractors in the area and said direct damage to their facilities was relatively minimal.

“Initial assessments indicate that our operating facilities in the Spruce Pine area have sustained only minor damage,” Sibelco said in an Oct. 3 statement. “Our specialist teams are on site carrying out cleaning and repair activities and we are working hard to resume operations as soon as possible.”

“We were able to conduct an initial visual inspection of the plant and the damage appears to be primarily concentrated around the attached units,” Quartz said in an Oct. 2 statement. But the company also warned that restarting mine operations “also depends on the rebuilding of local infrastructure.” Many of the area’s roads were closed and damaged in the immediate aftermath of the storm.

Similarly, Sibelco cited power outages due to the storm as one of its challenges. “Restoration of power remains critical to restarting operations,” the company said in a statement. “We have made significant progress in repairing the power lines leading to the factory.”

Quartz also has a stockpile of quartz in Norway that can be used for ongoing refining processing operations, and holds additional “finished product safety stock” to help customers, including semiconductor manufacturers, in the short or medium term. He explained that this would help avoid serious shortages. .

Will Helen disrupt semiconductor supplies?

The major semiconductor manufacturer said it does not currently anticipate any disruption to its operations due to Hurricane Helen.

Taiwanese company TSMC, one of the world’s leading chipmakers, said it could tap into a “diverse array of global suppliers.” “Due to our effective risk management system and close partnership with our suppliers, we do not anticipate any material impact on the company’s operations at this time,” a TSMC spokesperson said. “We will continue to monitor the situation closely.”

Samsung Electronics, the second-largest semiconductor maker and headquartered in South Korea, told New Scientist that its operations were not affected.

GlobalFoundries, the largest U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturer, described itself as having chip manufacturing facilities on three continents and “flexibility to leverage alternative sources of primary supply.” “We are in contact with our suppliers around the world and do not expect any disruption to our quartz supply as a result of Hurricane Helen,” a GlobalFoundries spokesperson said.

Dylan Patel of independent research firm Semianalysis said in a social media post that companies that produce raw silicon wafers currently have enough wafer inventory to last three to eight months.

Are there alternative sources of quartz for the global semiconductor industry?

Spruce pine “has an almost unique combination of purity, availability, and price,” Ed Conway, a Sky News journalist and author of “Material World,” wrote in a Substack post. But he also pointed to other high-purity quartz mines in China, Russia and Brazil.

Natural deposits of high-purity quartz are “rare,” but companies can use refining methods or even produce pure quartz synthetically if needed, Patel said. He also mentioned Ferroglobe, which acquired a high-purity quartz mine in South Carolina in October 2023. The company’s press release predicted that mining operations could begin in the second half of 2024.

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