Hurricane Helene shuts down critical mines, endangering AI chip supply

The two mines, owned by Sibelco and the Quartz Corp., are the only places in the world where a large concentration of high-purity quartz can be extracted, Ed Conway, a journalist and author of the book Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization, told Business Insider. The quartz is used to create silicon wafers, which are the main elements of semiconductors that power AI, as well as smartphones and solar panels.

“If we don’t have access to those mines for a long period of time, then the global supply of these silicon wafers is under threat,” Conway told BI.

In a post on X, Conway elaborated upon an excerpt from his book, noting that the world of computer chip manufacturers is extremely dependent on the North Carolina mines.

“There’s a reason SP [Spruce Pine, N.C.] dominates this sector: noone [sic] else can compete with its purity, consistency & quantity. Replicating that will take months. Poss yrs,” he wrote in the post.

Spruce Pine is a small N Carolina town which provides most of the high purity quartz needed for advanced semiconductors.
It’s just been struck by Hurricane Helene.
Status of quarries/processing plants unclear.
As I wrote in Material World, this is a MASSIVELY important place👇 pic.twitter.com/2mOW6xidhK

— Ed Conway (@EdConwaySky) September 30, 2024

Both of the mines have been shut down since last week, Bloomberg reported, as Spruce Pine received more than two feet of rainfall in less than a week, according to the Associated Press. The death toll from the storm reached more than 130 as of Monday, and hundreds of roads near Spruce Pine were either partially or fully closed owing to damage from the storm.

In a post on Facebook, Mitchell County, which includes the town of Spruce Pine, said the damage from the storm was extensive.

“A good bit of the county infrastructure has been either damaged or destroyed by floodwaters and uprooted trees and downed power lines caused by the storm. The county has no electricity service, cell service, or internet connectivity,” the post read.

A spokesperson for the Quartz Corp. said in a statement to Fortune that its operations were stopped for an unknown duration.

“We are currently assessing the damage at all plants in U.S. From a first visual inspection, we think our assets have been rather well preserved, but our ability to operate again will also greatly depend on surrounding infrastructure: power, water, roads,” the spokesperson said in a statement. 

A video reported by Hunterbrook Monday also showed heavy flooding at an entrance to Sibelco’s operation in Spruce Pine. Sibelco did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

People have been talking about the potential impact of the tragic Hurricane on the high-quality quartz production facilities in Spruce Pine.

We geolocated a video showing the entrance to at least one of the facilities is under water.

Nearby freight rail and roads are also… https://t.co/RCP9N4EsgI pic.twitter.com/4gGIkZFVDY

— Hunterbrook (@hntrbrkmedia) September 30, 2024

Despite the large-scale demand for AI chips and semiconductors, it’s unclear when operations at the vital mines will restart.

“At the current stage it is impossible to give a time for when we will be up and running. We will invest what is needed to restore production at the level we had before Helene hit us,” a spokesperson for the Quartz Corp. said in an email.