Two mines in North Carolina are the world's only producer of the quartz necessary for semiconductor manufacturing

Tech Spot ^ | March 24, 2024 at 7:55 AM | Erika Morphy

[RoosterRedux]

I hear ya.

[PGR88]

If anything, investors don't understand what AI is and how profoundly it's going to change things.

I read that Nvidia AI chips consume so much power, that with the shipments for data-centers planned this year and into the future, US utilities will need to add a "Houston-sized-City's" worth of electricity supply to the grid - and every year afterwards

[RoosterRedux]

The newest Nvidia platform, Blackwell, uses 25 TIMES less power than its H100 chips.

[PGR88]

The newest Nvidia platform, Blackwell, uses 25 TIMES less power than its H100 chips.

And so they will sell 100 times more of them

Jevon's Paradox - efficiencies in cost and energy usage actually drive an even-greater increase in demand.

[Karoo]

Why did they close? I use to pass by Beams on way to work.

[Reeses]

Pure quartz is silicon dioxide, carbon dioxide's heavier twin. Carbon is right above silicon in the periodic table and has similar chemistry. Carbon is the atom of life, silicon the atom of artificial life. Burning hydrocarbons could be replaced by burning hydrosilicons instead, the output being beach: white sand and warm water, rather than plant food.

Some plants, such as rice, incorporate SO2 sand in their build out, in addition to using CO2. It is believed the sand is a rice survival mechanism, to grind out the teeth of animals that eat it.

Both CO2 and SO2 are star players in the cycle of life.

[packagingguy]

You are probably right. Currently AI gets its information from the internet.

So if someone publishes a research paper that is completely wrong then AI will cite it and thus be incorrect.

[Red Badger]

[AppyPappy]

https://photocommunique.blogspot.com/2011/08/beams-chinese-american.html

Owners divorced maybe?

[RoosterRedux]

Of course, I can't envision what's going to happen re: this matter, but I think that, in the next 10-15 years, power is going to be a big issue.

Though it is not being discussed in public, I know for a fact that an important topic of discussion is the development of nuclear power plants on or near big data centers.

[Captainpaintball]

Yes

[Reeses]

Bronco Bama is so worried about CO2 he keeps buying ocean front properties to keep an eye on the damage. His plan is to bring in loads of White sand/SO2 to reflect the sun's rays out to space to counter the destruction of Black carbon/CO2. SO2 can also be injected underground using Texas fracking technology to raise natural elevations to cartoonish levels.

[Starboard]

The administrative state is effectively replacing much of what congress used to do. They are purely political and can act in ways that simply bypass congress. This type of command economy is a looming threat to free enterprise and innovation IMO.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/biden-doe-slaps-energy-efficiency-regulations-key-power-grid-components

[Libloather]

Pinus glabra, the spruce pine, is a tree found on the coastal plains of the southern United States, from southern South Carolina south to northern Florida and west to southern Louisiana.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_glabra

[Red Badger]

Mines in the Pines are the Signs of the Times..................

[RoosterRedux]

Very true.

On the other hand, the good thing about AI is that it has vast military applications...and that means that the DOD will take a bite out of anyone who tries to impede its development. As an aside, AI development for general market use helps the military because the DOD doesn't have to foot the bill until it comes time to adapt it for weapons.

[RoosterRedux]

As an investor in AI, one of the things that gives me great comfort is that the U.S. has to be careful not to slow down our research and development in any way because our enemies are nipping at our heels.

Everything is about to change in ways that are, for the most part, unimaginable.

[Max in Utah]

Les Petite Tetons?

[crusty old prospector]

I bet you could move five miles away and it would the same stuff. Metamorphosed quartz sandstones. Quartzite. It ain’t like a diamond mine.

[minnesota_bound]

In the past, quartz were just pretty rocks and now used for semiconductor chips and in the near future it will be discovered they are useful in space travel and the name will be changed to dilithium crystals.....