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| Tiny backwater town in North Carolina will help fuel world's AI revolution - with enough quartz to power entire $530bn semi-conductor global industry |
| 2024-03-26 |
| [Daily Mail, where America get its news] A desolate North Carolina town is now set to become a powerhouse for the world's AI revolution. Sibelco's mines have been extracting quartz in Spruce Pine since the 1970s but its $500 million investment between now and 2027 will fuel the global demand for semiconductors, a market worth $530bn but that is expected to soar as AI becomes more prominent. High-purity quartz is a vital component of building semiconductor chips which helps AI-powered software to process large amounts of data quickly and accurately and is used in cellphones, laptops, and other electronic devices. The quartz must be high-purity because if there are any imperfections, it can hinder the effectiveness, speed and accuracy of the semiconductors. Spruce Pine is a small town nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, northwest of Charlotte, and houses a population of 2,200 people, down from 2,700 residents in 2018. Sibelco claimed the enlarged mining area will create valuable new jobs in North Carolina and 'will ensure that Spruce Pine remains the world's leading source of HPQ.' The global quartz market value reached $8.5 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach nearly $18.7 billion by 2031, with China topping other countries as the largest customer. Spruce Pine is the only known place in the US that can fulfill the growing need for semiconductor chips which is increasing by an annual rate of 5.6 percent. |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #1 NVIDIA supplier is set to build a $4billion plant in rural Indiana to meet exploding demand for chips to fuel AI tech |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2024-03-26 11:18 |