Scenarios
What if it fails?
Pick a scenario on the record, or build your own from a company (private ones included), a bottleneck or a country. You get what it hits, what lies downstream, which listed companies are exposed, and what the record says about recovery — one recorded step at a time (rule).
Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand goes offline
/scenarios?at=bottleneck:crucible-grade-high-purity-quartz-sand
Step one · How this is computedDirect hits: bottlenecks where the failed node is a maker, a part supplier or the location. Makers wholly inside it are lost; makers also operating elsewhere are partly affected; the rest remain. Downstream: every bottleneck that needs a hit one, transitively, through recorded rows. Exposed: holders of hit and downstream bottlenecks and companies a filing says need or sell into them.Method →Code → bottleneck hit directly
| Bottleneck | Result | Makers lost | Partly in it | Makers remaining | Parts lost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand | Taken out directly | The Quartz Corp, Sibelco, Russian Quartz, Jiangsu Pacific Quartz, Momentive Technologies, Shin-Etsu Quartz, Ferrotec | none | none | none |
Step two · How this is computedDirect hits: bottlenecks where the failed node is a maker, a part supplier or the location. Makers wholly inside it are lost; makers also operating elsewhere are partly affected; the rest remain. Downstream: every bottleneck that needs a hit one, transitively, through recorded rows. Exposed: holders of hit and downstream bottlenecks and companies a filing says need or sell into them.Method →Code → downstream through recorded inputs
Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand → 300 mm prime silicon wafers
An input to 300 mm prime silicon wafers is disrupted. Whether it stops depends on inventory and substitution the corpus does not record.
Evidence for each step
- 300 mm prime silicon wafers needs Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand
Quartz crucibles are a critical component in the manufacture of photovoltaic cells and semiconductor chips. They are used to grow ingots that are then sliced and polished into ultra-thin wafers.
Primary source
- 300 mm prime silicon wafers needs Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand
Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand → 300 mm prime silicon wafers → Leading-edge foundry capacity
An input to Leading-edge foundry capacity is disrupted. Whether it stops depends on inventory and substitution the corpus does not record.
Evidence for each step
- 300 mm prime silicon wafers needs Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand
Quartz crucibles are a critical component in the manufacture of photovoltaic cells and semiconductor chips. They are used to grow ingots that are then sliced and polished into ultra-thin wafers.
Primary source - Leading-edge foundry capacity needs 300 mm prime silicon wafers
300 mm Non-memory chip / MPU / CIS / Logic (Driver IC)
Primary source · A wafer maker’s product table: 300 mm wafers go to logic. It does not name a node.
- 300 mm prime silicon wafers needs Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand
Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand → 300 mm prime silicon wafers → High-bandwidth memory stacking yield
An input to High-bandwidth memory stacking yield is disrupted. Whether it stops depends on inventory and substitution the corpus does not record.
Evidence for each step
- 300 mm prime silicon wafers needs Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand
Quartz crucibles are a critical component in the manufacture of photovoltaic cells and semiconductor chips. They are used to grow ingots that are then sliced and polished into ultra-thin wafers.
Primary source - High-bandwidth memory stacking yield needs 300 mm prime silicon wafers
300 mm Memory chip / DRAM / Flash(NAND)
Primary source · DRAM in general; HBM is stacked DRAM.
- 300 mm prime silicon wafers needs Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand
Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand → 300 mm prime silicon wafers → Leading-edge foundry capacity → Advanced packaging capacity
An input to Advanced packaging capacity is disrupted. Whether it stops depends on inventory and substitution the corpus does not record.
Evidence for each step
- 300 mm prime silicon wafers needs Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand
Quartz crucibles are a critical component in the manufacture of photovoltaic cells and semiconductor chips. They are used to grow ingots that are then sliced and polished into ultra-thin wafers.
Primary source - Leading-edge foundry capacity needs 300 mm prime silicon wafers
300 mm Non-memory chip / MPU / CIS / Logic (Driver IC)
Primary source · A wafer maker’s product table: 300 mm wafers go to logic. It does not name a node. - Advanced packaging capacity needs Leading-edge foundry capacity
so that various chiplets such as SoC and and high bandwidth memory (HBM) can be placed on it
Primary source · TSMC’s 2022 annual report on the CoWoS interposer. The SoC dies are the logic side.
- 300 mm prime silicon wafers needs Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand
Step three · How this is computedDirect hits: bottlenecks where the failed node is a maker, a part supplier or the location. Makers wholly inside it are lost; makers also operating elsewhere are partly affected; the rest remain. Downstream: every bottleneck that needs a hit one, transitively, through recorded rows. Exposed: holders of hit and downstream bottlenecks and companies a filing says need or sell into them.Method →Code → companies exposed, How this is computedOrganisations recorded on a bottleneck (maker, capacity holder or part supplier) whose shares, or a parent’s, trade on an exchange found in the SEC ticker file or OpenFIGI.Method →Code → with a listing
Exposure is a recorded relation, not a size, and not a direction: a remaining maker may gain as much as a dependent loses.
| Company | Listing | How it is exposed |
|---|---|---|
| Ferrotec | 6890 JP | Maker lost · Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand |
| Jiangsu Pacific Quartz | 603688 CH | Maker lost · Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand |
| Momentive Technologies | No listing found | Maker lost · Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand |
| Russian Quartz | No listing found | Maker lost · Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand |
| Shin-Etsu Quartz | No listing found | Maker lost · Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand |
| Sibelco | No listing found | Maker lost · Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand |
| The Quartz Corp | No listing found | Maker lost · Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand |
| GlobalWafers | 6488 TT | Holds a downstream bottleneck · 300 mm prime silicon wafers |
| Intel Foundry | INTC USvia Intel | Holds a downstream bottleneck · Leading-edge foundry capacity |
| Micron | MU US | Holds a downstream bottleneck · High-bandwidth memory stacking yield |
| Samsung Foundry | 005930 KSvia Samsung Electronics | Holds a downstream bottleneck · Leading-edge foundry capacity |
| Samsung Memory | 005930 KSvia Samsung Electronics | Holds a downstream bottleneck · High-bandwidth memory stacking yield |
| Shin-Etsu Handotai | No listing found | Holds a downstream bottleneck · 300 mm prime silicon wafers |
| Siltronic | WAF GR | Holds a downstream bottleneck · 300 mm prime silicon wafers |
| SK hynix | 000660 KS | Holds a downstream bottleneck · High-bandwidth memory stacking yield |
| SK Siltron | 034730 KSvia SK Inc. | Holds a downstream bottleneck · 300 mm prime silicon wafers |
| SUMCO | 3436 JP | Holds a downstream bottleneck · 300 mm prime silicon wafers |
| TSMC | 2330 TT | Holds a downstream bottleneck · Leading-edge foundry capacity |
| TSMC Advanced Packaging | 2330 TTvia TSMC | Holds a downstream bottleneck · Advanced packaging capacity |
| Amazon Web Services | AMZN USvia Amazon | Needs it (sourced) · Leading-edge foundry capacity sourceNeeds it (sourced) · High-bandwidth memory stacking yield source |
| AMD | AMD US | Needs it (sourced) · Leading-edge foundry capacity source |
| Broadcom | AVGO US | Needs it (sourced) · Leading-edge foundry capacity source |
| CoreWeave | CRWV US | Needs it (sourced) · Leading-edge foundry capacity source |
| GOOGL USvia Alphabet | Needs it (sourced) · High-bandwidth memory stacking yield source | |
| Marvell | MRVL US | Needs it (sourced) · Leading-edge foundry capacity source |
| Microsoft | MSFT US | Needs it (sourced) · Leading-edge foundry capacity sourceNeeds it (sourced) · High-bandwidth memory stacking yield source |
| NVIDIA | NVDA US | Needs it (sourced) · Leading-edge foundry capacity sourceNeeds it (sourced) · High-bandwidth memory stacking yield sourceNeeds it (sourced) · Advanced packaging capacity source |
| OpenAI | Private | Needs it (sourced) · High-bandwidth memory stacking yield source |
| Applied Materials | AMAT US | Sells into it (sourced) · Leading-edge foundry capacity sourceSells into it (sourced) · High-bandwidth memory stacking yield source |
| ASM International | ASM NA | Sells into it (sourced) · Leading-edge foundry capacity sourceSells into it (sourced) · High-bandwidth memory stacking yield source |
| Canon | 7751 JP | Sells into it (sourced) · High-bandwidth memory stacking yield sourceSells into it (sourced) · Advanced packaging capacity source |
| KLA | KLAC US | Sells into it (sourced) · Leading-edge foundry capacity sourceSells into it (sourced) · High-bandwidth memory stacking yield sourceSells into it (sourced) · Advanced packaging capacity source |
| Lam Research | LRCX US | Sells into it (sourced) · Leading-edge foundry capacity sourceSells into it (sourced) · High-bandwidth memory stacking yield source |
| Tokyo Electron | 8035 JP | Sells into it (sourced) · Leading-edge foundry capacity sourceSells into it (sourced) · High-bandwidth memory stacking yield sourceSells into it (sourced) · Advanced packaging capacity source |
Step four · what the record says about recovery
No recovery date is computed: the corpus holds no measured lead-time series. What it holds is shown with its basis.
- Crucible-grade high-purity quartz sand
- Lead-time test
- Estimate by Substrata, open to challenge, 2026-09-15: One deposit at Spruce Pine supplies most inner-layer crucible sand; a 2024 hurricane closed it for weeks. Substitutes are synthetic and slow to qualify.Estimate, not a measurementOne deposit at Spruce Pine supplies most inner-layer crucible sand; a 2024 hurricane closed it for weeks. Substitutes are synthetic and slow to qualify.By Substrata, open to challenge · 2026-09-15 — decision to new capacity, a judged score in the assessment
- Relief time at this stage
- Estimate by Substrata, open to challenge, 2026-09-15: Order-of-magnitude time from a decision to relief at this stage of the loop. Illustrative: chosen by hand, not taken from a measured lead-time dataset.Estimate, not a measurementOrder-of-magnitude time from a decision to relief at this stage of the loop. Illustrative: chosen by hand, not taken from a measured lead-time dataset.By Substrata, open to challenge · 2026-09-15 (Materials & tools, order of magnitude)
Try another scenario
On the record
- China halts gallium exports
- China halts rare-earth metal and magnet exports
- Taiwan is cut off
- Carl Zeiss SMT goes offline
- ASML cannot ship
- Ukraine’s neon goes offline again
- Qatar’s helium stops
- Japanese photoresist supply stops
- The Quartz Corp closes
- Korea’s HBM lines stop