The small Spruce Pine factory, unknown to most, represents a fundamental element for the global technology industry.
In the age of technological innovation, it’s easy to take for granted the complex system that allows our world to run smoothly. Every electronic device we use every day, from computers to smartphones, has a long production chain behind it and a multitude of essential components. However, there are hidden details that play a crucial role in this process, details that often go unnoticed even by industry experts.
Despite the notoriety of large technology companies and the geographical areas that host the most important innovation hubs, there is a lesser-known but fundamental place for the global semiconductor industry. It is a small town in North Carolina that hosts a factory essential to the functioning of the entire technology sector.
A great responsibility for the small factory: it must support the entire global technology industry
In the heart of North Carolina, in the town of Spruce Pine, lives an industrial reality of global importance. Here, Sibelco North America Inc. runs an establishment that produces very high purity quartz. This quartz is a fundamental element in the production of the crucibles used for refine silicon, an essential component for creating semiconductor chips.
According to Ethan Mollick, an expert at the Wharton School, Spruce Pine is crucial to the health of the global tech industry. Indeed, without the ultra-pure quartz extracted from this area, semiconductor production would be severely compromised. Mollick emphasizes that this site represents one of the most vital points for the technology supply chain.
The purity of the quartz mined at Spruce Pine is the result of geological processes that occurred 380 million years ago, when a collision between Africa and North America led to the formation of high-grade minerals beneath the Earth’s surface. The industrial history of Spruce Pine is equally fascinating. The area has been exploited for centuries, with Native American peoples mining mica, another valuable mineral. Also Thomas Edison, in 1879, used the mica extracted from this area for his experimentsmarking the beginning of Spruce Pine’s prominence in the tech industry.
Despite the existence of synthetic techniques to create pure quartz, a sudden closure of the Spruce Pine mine would cause significant and costly disruption to the global technology industry. Production could face major disruptions for years as the industry adapts to new supply methods. The ultra pure quartz mined here delivers unmatched optical, mechanical and thermal properties for semiconductors, solar photovoltaic cells, fiber optics and quartz lighting. This site will therefore continue to be essential to the technological production chain, and its importance cannot be underestimated.
