{"id":1493051,"date":"2024-09-30T14:05:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-30T18:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1493051"},"modified":"2024-09-30T14:05:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T18:05:00","slug":"modern-economy-rests-on-single-road-in-north-carolina-where-hurricane-collapsed-bridges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/modern-economy-rests-on-single-road-in-north-carolina-where-hurricane-collapsed-bridges\/1493051\/","title":{"rendered":"“Modern Economy Rests On Single Road” In North Carolina Where Hurricane Collapsed Bridges\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Modern Economy Rests On Single Road” In North Carolina Where Hurricane Collapsed Bridges\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

In March, a\u00a0Wharton professor who studies artificial intelligence and\u00a0start-ups claimed on X, “The modern economy rests on a single road in Spruce Pine, North Carolina<\/strong>. The road runs to the two mines that are the sole supplier of the quartz required to make the crucibles needed to refine silicon wafers<\/strong>.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ethan Mollick noted at the time,\u00a0“There are no alternative sources known<\/strong>” if supply disruptions were seen in Spruce Pines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The modern economy rests on a single road in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. The road runs to the two mines that is the sole supplier of the quartz required to make the crucibles needed to refine silicon wafers.<\/p>\n

There are no alternative sources known. From Conway\u2019s Material Worldpic.twitter.com\/mYfrfub8dw<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Ethan Mollick (@emollick) March 9, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n

Fast-forward to this past weekend across the Western North Carolina area, where a major disaster continues to unfold<\/strong> after\u00a0tropical system Helene dumped torrential rains and unleashed devastating floods that pulverized entire towns<\/strong>, destroyed roads, highways, and bridges, and\u00a0left tens of thousands without power.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Absolutely horrid photos coming out of Spruce Pine, NC. right now, as buddies of mine are on the ground helping #Helene<\/a> victims. pic.twitter.com\/35fDndq7iy<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Carolina Patriot (@ACarolinaGuy) September 29, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n

I have asked for pictures on facebook. I joined the Let\u2019s Talk #SprucePine<\/a> #NC<\/a> page. 12K+ Hundreds of families have loved ones unaccounted for\u2026the roads into Spruce Pine are not passable. Bridges are collapsed. People are scared and desperate. Spruce Pine needs the\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/FttEYIW3Ai<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Gretchen Smith\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@MAGAgpsmith) September 28, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n

The CSX rail between Erwin, TN and Spruce Pine, TN is unrecognizable, and in some cases, completely missing, lost to the floods created by #Helena<\/a>. Could take months to open the route again. Terrible thing to happen. pic.twitter.com\/QqhrsBDrPz<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Jags Board Game & Movie Guy (@MoviePaul) September 28, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n

I have friends that live in flood warning areas of Winston Salem NC & Newport & the ones im really worried about live not far out of Spruce Pine NC & cant get a hold of them yet.
\nNot sure how updated below info is pic.twitter.com\/yQJ4yC2WtK<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 \u2295\u05bf\u05bf\u05bf\u05bfBliTzer \u30c4 (@blitzer850) September 28, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n

Just took this pic moments ago from Fox… just short of two *feet* of rain at Spruce Pine… pic.twitter.com\/vZySfAvmw7<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 4CatDoc (@4CatDoc) September 30, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n

Back to\u00a0Mollick. He shared with his followers a detailed list of the top miners in Spruce Pine, highlighting Sibelco North America, known for producing ultra-high-purity quartz used in refined silicon wafers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Really nice deep dive into the reasons why Spruce Pine is so important. https:\/\/t.co\/OdUODRnDOB<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Ethan Mollick (@emollick) March 9, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n

As of Monday morning,\u00a0Mollick’s worst fears could be realized as\u00a0Google Traffic data shows road closures<\/strong> around the\u00a0Sibelco mining facilities and across the entire region.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

A 2018 note from Wired<\/a> shows just how critical Spruce Pines area mines are for semiconductor production: “A fire in 2008 at one of the main quartz facilities in Spruce Pine for a time all but shut off the supply of high\u2011purity quartz to the world market, sending shivers through the industry.”\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Tom’s Hardware cited\u00a0Mollick’s X posts, saying the\u00a0Wharton professor “provides an excerpt from Conway’s Material World, which discusses the probable “end of computer chip manufacture as we know it,” should something untoward happen at Spruce Pine or in the skies above it.”\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here’s what folks on X are saying about Spruce Pines…<\/p>\n

Almost every crystalline silicon photovoltaic module and semiconductor chip made in the world today relies on this mining district in western North Carolina. https:\/\/t.co\/0U6fAapjiN<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/FiURjlLQoW<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Dustin Mulvaney (@DustinMulvaney) September 29, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n

Oh joy, what a great time to find out that a massive supply bottleneck for computer chips and solar panels exists right by a river in western North Carolina… https:\/\/t.co\/CL3AyFH44w<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/gbdlk7BKQQ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Sean – Alberta Nuclear (@AlbertaNuclear) September 29, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n

How do I express that I\u2019m concerned about the people of western NC and I\u2019m 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? pic.twitter.com\/pcg4bonoJn<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Fossil Locator (@FossilLocator) September 29, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n

There has been no confirmation from the miner about any\u00a0disruption. Well, not as of Monday morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nMon, 09\/30\/2024 – 10:05<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/commodities\/modern-economy-rests-single-road-north-carolina-where-hurricane-collapsed-bridges<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Modern Economy Rests On Single Road” In North Carolina Where Hurricane Collapsed Bridges\u00a0 In March, a\u00a0Wharton professor who studies artificial intelligence and\u00a0start-ups claimed on X,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1493052,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1493051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1493051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1493051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1493051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1493052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1493051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1493051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1493051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}