Saudi Arabia Has Oil, America Has This - Maxinomics

[TexasTowelie]

If the supply of this one material stopped flowing, the world would effectively slip backward in time 25 years. This is the story of America’s hidden monopoly on the ultra-pure quartz found in Spruce Pine, North Carolina—the only place on Earth capable of producing the raw material for advanced computer chips

CHAPTERS:
00:00 Intro
00:30 What is Silica?
01:42 Finding Hyper Pure Quartz
03:30 The Connection Between Quartz and Silicon
6:20 How to Make Silicon
9:47 Spruce Pine Was a Freak Accident
11:12 Taiwan, China, and the Technology Crown