China Uncovers €1.4 B High‑Purity Quartz, Eyes Tech Independence
China has announced the discovery of more than 35 million tonnes of high-purity quartz (HPQ) in two major deposits located in Qinling, Henan, and Altay, Xinjiang. This strategic find, valued at approximately €1.4 billion, is being hailed as a breakthrough in China’s quest for independence from Western supply chains, particularly in the critical sectors of semiconductors and renewable energy.
The Ministry of Natural Resources has now classified HPQ as China’s 174th strategic mineral, underlining its significance in modern industry. This mineral, composed of extremely pure silicon dioxide (SiO₂) with a purity level reaching up to 99.998%, plays an essential role in the production of semiconductors, solar panels, precision optics, and advanced electronics.
Strategic Break from U.S. Supply
For years, China has been heavily dependent on HPQ imports, with nearly 80% of its high-grade quartz sourced from the United States, especially from the Spruce Pine mine in North Carolina. These imports have totaled more than $1.5 billion annually, creating a major dependency in a key sector of China’s high-tech economy.
With this new domestic reserve, China aims to substantially reduce that reliance. Pilot-level purification processes have already demonstrated the capability to produce ultra-pure HPQ at 4N5 to 4N8 levels—a benchmark required for manufacturing quartz crucibles used in silicon wafer production.
Economic and Technological Boost
The development is expected to lower production costs for quartz crucibles by 20–30%, with ripple effects throughout the electronics manufacturing value chain. Silicon wafers—used in everything from smartphones and microchips to solar panels—could see a production cost reduction of $0.01 to $0.02 per wafer, a significant margin in mass-scale fabrication.
China’s academic and industrial sectors are now accelerating research in quartz beneficiation and purification, focusing on fast screening, impurity removal, and scalable processing techniques. These efforts are designed to establish a fully indigenous, vertically integrated HPQ supply chain.
A Strategic Leap in Tech Sovereignty
This move represents a major step in China’s long-term strategy to secure control over critical raw materials. High-purity quartz, though rarely discussed in mainstream media, is foundational to cutting-edge technologies including quantum computing, medical imaging, fiber optics, and advanced defense systems.
As global supply chains face increasing geopolitical uncertainty, China’s ability to domestically source and refine HPQ marks a strategic inflection point. By closing one of its last major dependencies on the United States, Beijing is reinforcing its push toward self-reliance in the tech sector—and sending a clear signal to global markets about the shifting balance in material supremacy.
