SPRUCE PINE, N.C. — A quartz processing plant pitched by the Trump administration as a boost for American chipmaking may be headed to North Carolina, but the company named as its builder is not ready to say so.
Speaking on stage at a Republican campaign rally headlined by President Donald Trump in Greenville on Tuesday evening, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sibelco would put hundreds of millions of dollars into a new plant in the state to support semiconductor production. He gave no site, timeline or job count.
Sibelco, a global industrial minerals supplier, has not confirmed the project. In a statement the company said it knows about the public comments on a potential North Carolina project but wants an official word from Washington before it shares anything further.
The most likely home is the Spruce Pine mining district in Mitchell County, where Sibelco already employs more than 400 people. The Western North Carolina district produces an estimated 70% to 90% of the world’s high-purity quartz, a raw material that goes into computer chips and solar panels.
It is also unclear whether the plant is new money or part of an earlier commitment. In 2023 Sibelco announced a $700 million expansion and upgrade aimed at rising demand for quartz used in chips, semiconductors and solar panels.
Mitchell County economic development leaders and Spruce Pine officials have said they hope to land the facility, which would come as the area is still rebuilding from Hurricane Helene. They are waiting on an announcement from the company before treating it as real.
The talk of a plant fits into a broader federal push for home-grown chip supplies in the state. A Raleigh chip manufacturer, for example, has lined up a Department of War loan topping $1 billion.
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