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SemiAnalysis
@SemiAnalysis_
There’s a lot of fear mongering surrounding high purity quartz (“HPQ”) and Spruce Pine, NC following the devastating flooding from Hurricane Helene The area contains the purest form of natural quartz, but the significance of supply disruptions from the mines is exaggerated 1/8
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Fossil Locator
@FossilLocator
How do I express that I’m concerned about the people of western NC and I’m also concerned about the potential future global economic disaster because Spruce Pine is the sole producer of ultra pure Quartz for crucibles that all global semiconductor production relies on?
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David Watson 🥑
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SemiAnalysis
@SemiAnalysis_
First - inventory levels for raw wafer companies are currently low, but even then, there’s ~3 months of DIO at Globalwafers and Siltronic and 8 months of DIO at SUMCO. Existing inventory is a buffer. Can mining activities restart within 3 months? Probably. 2/8
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SemiAnalysis
@SemiAnalysis_
SUMCO’s JSQ division manufactures HPQ crucibles for single crystal silicon (semiconductors). The product is a high purity synthetic quartz crucible. The manufacturing process laid out on its website. 4/8
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SemiAnalysis
@SemiAnalysis_
Sibelco and TQC (sub of Imerys) hold the mining rights for the Spruce Pine deposit and are share leaders However, Pacific Quartz is a major player in China Additionally, the Russian Quartz company operates the mine in Kyshtym, Russia with average content of 99.999% purity 4/8
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SemiAnalysis
@SemiAnalysis_
Plus there are numerous mines for HPQ that can be purified further Homerun Resources has a supply agreement for 99.88% average raw HPQ silica sand - Bahia Silica Sand District, Brazil HMR also has a HPQ project in Canada working on commercializing upgraded raw quartz silica 5/8
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SemiAnalysis
@SemiAnalysis_
Ferroglobe (GSM) acquired a high-purity quartz mine in SC last year with 300kt/yr capacity and +10 years of reserve life. They supply high-purity silicon metal to the electronics industry. 6/8
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SemiAnalysis
@SemiAnalysis_
Companies like American Elements and Western Minmetals can produce high-purity (5N, 99.999%) quartz powder that can be used to create crucibles. 7/8
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SemiAnalysis
@SemiAnalysis_
In conclusion – existing wafer inventory provides a buffer as mining operations restart, major companies are already using synthetic methods to produce semiconductor-grade quartz crucibles, and there are other sources of HPQ. Spruce Pine FUD is exaggerated. 8/8
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Mankosmash
@Mankosmash
There are lots of other suppliers for high purity quartz 👇🏻 the idea that Spruce Pine is unique is total nonsense. It's just the leading brand.
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Charles Nathan Smith
@cnathansmith
Quartz is just fused silica, which you can chemically purify from other sand. It's more econimal to harvest a very pure source if you have it, but it's by no means irreplaceable
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