International. Wacker is increasing its global production capacities for silicone rubber. With multi-site expansion measures, the company plans to gradually increase its capabilities by a total of 40,000 metric tons per year by 2021. Approximately €100 million has been earmarked for this capacity expansion.
With these measures, Wacker says it is responding to the high demand for silicone rubber in key sectors such as the automotive, electronics and medical industries. These investments are part of the Wacker Silicones division's strategy to further expand its specialty portfolio.
Silicone rubber is one of the most sought-after elastomers in the industry. "Silicones are high-performance materials. They are essential for novel product solutions and belong to the drivers of innovation in key industry sectors such as automotive, medicine and electronics," says Robert Gnann, director of the Wacker Silicones business division. "Above-average growth is being driven by trends toward hybrid cars, electromobility and digitalization, as well as decentralized alternative electricity generation using wind and solar power. Therefore, we are making an important contribution to increasing sustainability as we continue our strategy of clearly focusing on driving the specialties in our portfolio."
With capacity expansions in intermediate production steps and downstream production, Wacker will significantly improve the availability of silicone rubber and related service for its customers in the near future. All solid silicone rubber product groups will benefit from these expansion measures. In April of this year, Wacker already brought a new production site of silicone sealants and thermally conductive silicone compounds in Jincheon, South Korea. Production of room temperature vulcanization silicone elastomers and liquid silicone gums also began in Amtala, India, where Wacker manufactures silicones in a joint venture with Metroark.
