While no one noticed that this might be a problem before, it would appear that the road to Spruce Pine has suddenly taken out that road.   

Hurricane Helene proved a disaster for large portions of the US Southeast. Several towns in Florida, for example, no longer exist as anything more than the name of a ruin on a map. Spruce Pine saw two feet of rain dropped on it, power is out throughout the region, and many roads are impassable or washed away.

While this is a tragedy for Spruce Pine, it would appear that without its mines it could have a huge impact on the US chip industry. There are other places to get quartz—used to melt polysilicon—but not of the quality that Spruce Pine produces.

Without that quartz, the chip industry would have to make ultra-pure silicon another way, which would require a lot more time, effort, and resources.

Chipzilla will need all that quartz, with its new Arrow Lake line and the company's increased investment in its AI operations.

However, with Spruce Pine out of action for a while, it would appear that Intel could be in trouble. If only someone had thought, “maybe it is a good idea to make sure the road links to our supply were secure.”  We guess that is only the sort of thing that communists think about and capitalists don't pay for.