A mine in North Carolina is ‘the sole supplier of the quartz required to make the crucibles needed to refine silicon wafers’, and if it closed, the ‘catastrophic’ disruption to the semiconductor business would be felt for years.

Archaeologists working at the site where Intel plans to develop a multi-billion series of chip fabs in Germany have discovered prehistoric burial mounds. The state heritage office press release doesn’t mention any potential delays, saying that work will complete next month.