Ever heard of Hemlock Semi-conductor?

[Altarboy]

They are building an enormous plant in Clarksville Tn. They are building four or five different facilities over a fifteen year period. Well, they were. A couple months ago The Chinese dumped $25 dollar a kilo silicon on the market. When Hemlock began the construction of these plants (# 1 is maybe half way complete), silicon was going for nearly $200 a kilo. I've watched a bustling 500 acre construction site dwindle down to a crawl as 1700 of the 3200 construction workers were told to leave last week. It's sad to see. Many had bought houses in and around Clarksville and put their kids in the local schools. Two months ago I'll bet there were thirty or more huge cranes working. Now there are four. Anybody here connected with them?

[Warthogg]

Deep pockets owners.

Wart


Hemlock Semiconductor – is comprised of two joint ventures: Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation and Hemlock Semiconductor, L.L.C. The companies are joint ventures of Dow Corning Corporation, Shin-Etsu Handotai and Mitsubishi Materials Corporation

[El Jefe]

Damn.

[Warthogg]

Blurb on Clarksville as of two days ago:




News and Upcoming Events

2011.12.03
Construction Workforce Tops 1,600 at Clarksville, Tenn. Site

Administration Building Nearly Complete as Manufacturing Campus Takes Shape

Clarksville, Tenn.: More than 1,600 construction workers are currently active at Hemlock Semiconductor Group’s Clarksville, TN site as construction of the administration building nears completion. Warehouse, maintenance buildings, and other support facilities will be finished later this year and production facilities will be complete in 2012.

The $1.2 billion plant is scheduled to begin producing polysilicon, the cornerstone material for solar cells, in late 2012. The Clarksville Hemlock Semiconductor facility will meet the needs of the growing solar industry.

http://www.hscpoly.com/content/hsc_comp/construction_workforce_tops_1600.aspx

[Altarboy]

Btw, they are very secretive about the nature and scope of the different machines and stuff going into the place. They have the most pure silicon in the world and don't want the Chinese to get the recipe. Now I'm just a truck driver, but wouldn't the Chins eventually hack their system or learn through a spy just how to replicate it? I mean, it's not Coca Cola for Pete's sake.