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spruce pine, the “quartz town” in the united states, occupies more than 90% of the world’s high-end quartz sand market share. however, due to the impact of hurricane helene, quartz mining operations there are currently suspended. this could affect the worldchipand the solar industry.

cnbc jiang yu:the american town of spruce pine, located in the western region of north carolina, is one of the few places in the world where high-purity quartz can be mined. recently, the town was hit by hurricane helene, and the lives of local residents have been seriously affected.two major mines have also suspended operations。

the mines in the town are mainly operated by two companies, belgium's sibelco north america and norway's tqc. inthe high-end quartz sand products produced by sibelco almost monopolize the international market, with a global market share of more than 90%, and maintain absolute control over the price of quartz sand.

at present, sibelco told cnbc that it has suspended mining operations since last thursday local time, and is even trying to contact all employees in the area. the norwegian tqc company also stated that it had stopped operations on the 26th local time, and it is currently unknown when it will resume.

you must know that quartz is an important raw material for the semiconductor industry, including solar panels, mobile phones, and the current artificial intelligence boom, which are highly dependent on high-purity quartz products.

according to data from consulting firm techcet, the market size of quartz products in the global semiconductor industry will reach approximately us$2.12 billion this year, and demand for quartz components is expected to continue to grow as fabs expand. in the next five years, the compound annual growth rate will be approximately 7%.

without high-purity quartz, most semiconductor products cannot be produced. although high-quality quartz is also available in russia and brazil, the town of spruce pine has the largest supply and is of the best quality.

over the past few decades, demand for quartz from this small u.s. town has surged around the world. according to the "news and observer" report, sibelco is investing approximately us$700 million in plans to expand production, and its output has increased by approximately 60% between 2019 and 2023.

in addition, it is worth noting thatthe quartz mining industry is highly secretive, which may also affect the outside world's perception of the severity of the incident.. according to a 2018 wired magazine report on local mines, the total amount of high-purity quartz produced globally each year is estimated to be just 30,000 tons. regarding local quartz production, only sibelco has exact data, but the company is known for its confidentiality and never releases any production information to the outside world.

from this, we can see that a "quartz town" in the united states has been hit by climate disasters, and the impact may affect the global semiconductor industry. experts currently say that the impact may not be immediately apparent in the short term, but once local production is unable to resume production in the long term, the ripple effects will spread quickly.

source:cctv finance