[____mr____]

I wondered the same thing and apparently China, India, Brazil and Turkey outrank Spain in exportation of quartz, it was just the authors decision to go with Spain (probably because it was an example of a direct line from quarry to furnace?) but yeah, this is obviously not the only route that makes chips.

[gsf_emergency_2]

I was amused that higher quality quartz from Spruce Pines NC (Sibelco) doesn't go into the chips themselves, but the silicon crucibles (makes sense in retrospect because you need your tools to be finer than the product, but as a chip-user..) and display glass