Hurricane Helene dropped more than 2 feet of rain on Spruce Pine, N.C. The town is home to one of the world's only sources of high-purity quartz, which is used to manufacture silicon chips and solar panels.A tiny town in North Carolina that’s just been devastated by hurricane Helene could end up severely disrupting the global supply chain for microchips and solar panels.
Companies have been pursuing artificial substitutes, but so far, those alternatives can't satisfy the world’s demand for this pure quartz. “We were there for about three days before we got enough chainsaws together to cut a path out of our neighborhood,” Bost says. He and his fiancée spent nine hours working their way to Greenville, N.C., where they’ve temporarily sought shelter.