Hurricane Helene left a trail of death and destruction throughout the U.S. Southeast, but the impact of the massive storm may disrupt the automotive industry worldwide for months to come.
Spruce Pine, a small town in North Carolina, is the world’s main source of high-purity quartz needed to make semiconductors. Hurricane Helene ravaged Spruce Pine last week, inundating the tiny town with over two feet of water, according to PBS, which may seriously hamper the production of those conductors.
The mining district in the town produces the high-purity quartz used in the production of silicon wafers for semiconductors and solar panels, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. As it turns out, this tiny town – smaller than 5 square miles with just 2,200 total residents – is one of the most important (if not the most important) sources of the critical mineral in the world. It may not be the only producer of HPQ in the world, but Sibelco, a private Belgium mineral company, has a virtual monopoly. It also just happens to be the largest employer in Mitchell County, North Carolina.
“It is rare, unheard of almost, for a single site to control the global supply of a crucial material. Yet if you want to get high-purity quartz — the kind you need to make those crucibles without which you can’t make silicon wafers — it has to come from Spruce Pine,” Ed Conway, who authored the 2023 book “Material World,” wrote.
These wafers apparently need extreme purity to be created, as Conway explains. Even a tiny impurity, like one that is less than 50 parts per billion, can ruin the final products, according to the News & Observer. “The more perfect the atomic structure of your silicon, the more easily and freely electrons can flow around,” Conway wrote in his book.
OK, so we now know the quartz used in these chips that is mined at Spruce Pine is incredibly important. Here’s where the issue comes in: Spruce Pine was hit incredibly hard by Helene. Right now, it’s not even clear what sort of state the mines or Sibelco’s facilities are in. This could end up having a huge impact on the automotive industry.
Jalopnik spoke with Conway about how he sees this all playing out, and he said it depends greatly on the conditions on the ground at Spruce Pine and how long it takes for operations to get up and running.
“If there’s disruption and it only goes on for a few days or a few weeks, then actually I don’t think it’ll be the end of the world. Most of the companies that are making these crucibles, they will have stockpiles of quartz. Most of the companies that are taking those crucibles and using them to make silicon wafers that then become the chips, they will have stockpiles as well,” Conway explained to me.
He added that semiconductors are a relatively slow-moving supply chain, which was part of the problem during the 2020 chip shortage. As I’m sure you remember, thousands of cars were either delayed or were delivered missing features because of a lack of chips.
So, if production can get up and running in a few days or weeks, the global supply chain shouldn’t be too badly interrupted, but if the disruption goes on for months, we could start to see a chip shortage take hold.
“If you’re talking about something that takes down production, or indeed, delivery, for months, then I think that is a serious problem. That means the potential cost of silicon wafers could go up quite a lot, and that, in turn, would affect the price and availability of semiconductors,” Conway said.
It’s too early to tell if that’s what’s going to end up happening here, but in just a few months we could see the shockwaves of this disaster hit car companies and suppliers.
Of course, a semiconductor shortage is really insignificant when you look at the total destruction Helene left in western North Carolina and the greater American South. At least 102 people have died across six states since Helene made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, CNN reported on Monday morning. So far, at least 42 North Carolinians died because of the storm.
Perhaps the most devastated area has been Ashville, North Carolina, about 50 miles southwest of Spruce Pine. It’s been virtually cut off from the outside world because of impassible roads. Conditions have hampered the delivery of badly needed supplies and made it difficult to get folks out.
“Things are even more devastating in person. (Western North Carolina) is going to take a very long time to recover, but I am so grateful that we are here and doing OK. My heart is broken for our people here,” Krista Cortright, an Ashville resident, told CNN.
Jalopnik has reached out to Sibelco for comment, and we will update this story when and if we get a response.