The Quartz Cornerstone: How a Single Factory Fuels the World’s Semiconductor Industry

Unearth the secret behind the world’s semiconductor industry, hinging on a single high-quality quartz factory in North Carolina. Journey through time, from the formation of ultra-pure quartz deposits 380 million years ago to present-day mining operations. Discover how this unique geological marvel fuels the tech world, and why any disruption could send shockwaves through the global technology supply chain. Welcome to ‘The Quartz Cornerstone: How a Single Factory Fuels the World’s Semiconductor Industry’.

Geology of the Deposit:

• The quartz deposits were formed approximately 380 million years ago during the collision of the African and North American tectonic plates.
• The intense heat and pressure miles below the earth’s surface during the collision caused a rich mineral-forming liquid to cool and crystallize.
• A key aspect is that the liquid-cooled in the absence of water, resulting in ultra-pure quartz minerals devoid of impurities.
• Over millions of years, these uniquely pure quartz crystals consolidated into the deposit that is now mined at Spruce Pine.

History of Mining at the Site:

• Native American peoples are known to have mined mica at the site for centuries before European settlement.
• In the late 19th century, mica was mined commercially and used as an electrical insulator material by Thomas Edison in some of his early inventions dating back to 1879.
• In the 1950s, mining at Spruce Pine transitioned from mica to focus on extracting the ultra-high purity quartz (HPQ).
• The HPQ has found use in applications like semiconductors that require its unparalleled purity and optical properties.

Present-Day Mining Operations:

• The Spruce Pine Mine is owned and operated by the chemical company Sibelco.
• Sibelco claims it is the world’s leading supplier of HPQ and produces the highest-quality quartz available.
• Mining involves tunneling underground to extract the quartz crystals from subsurface veins and deposits.
• The quartz undergoes processing to grind, sort, and purify it for various commercial applications.
• End uses include semiconductor wafer production, solar cells, optics, lighting and other industries with stringent purity needs.
• The mine represents the sole commercial source of the ultra-pure quartz feedstock needed to produce crucibles for Czochralski crystal growth of silicon wafers.

Importance to Semiconductors:

• Any disruption to production at Spruce Pine could cripple the semiconductor manufacturing industry.
• It can take years for alternative high-purity quartz sources to be developed or synthetic production to be scaled up sufficiently.
• This makes the industry highly dependent on continued safe and stable operations at the single Spruce Pine mine location.
• Shortages or quality issues could send ripple effects throughout the global technology supply chain.

Global Quartz business:

• In 2021, Quartz’s business was US$ 6.78 Billion.
• Market projections are expecting it to reach US$ 9.91 billion by 2027.
• The expected CAGR (cumulative annual growth rate) is 6.53% during 2021–27.

Other important companies in the Quartz business:

• Asahi Glass Co. Ltd.
• The Quartz Corporation
• Quality Quartz Engineering Inc. (Conax Technologies LLC)
• Caesarstone Ltd.
• Nihon Dempa Kogyo Co. Ltd.
• Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A.
• Momentive Technologies
• Heraeus Holding
• Kyocera Corporation
• Jiangsu Pacific Quartz Co. Ltd.
• Sibelco

*Major players are mentioned in bold.