Tibet quartz discovery boosts China’s self-sufficiency push for hi-tech materials

China has discovered a new source of high-purity quartz in its western Tibet autonomous region, potentially reducing its reliance on imports of the critical material to make solar panels and semiconductors.

High-purity quartz is a gold standard manufacturing material for numerous hi-tech items, including some whose global market is dominated by China.

China has relied on imports to obtain the important material, with most coming from the United States, because of a lack of domestic sources for...