(July 01, 2026) Industry heavy news came from the domestic silicone new material industrial park: a number of local silicon chemical companies have completed the commissioning of continuous mass production lines for high-purity low-cyclic polyether-modified silicone oil. The new generation of environmentally friendly polyether silicone oil is officially supplied to the four high-end markets of coatings, daily chemicals, new energy, and semiconductors. This marks a substantial breakthrough in China's long-term dependence on overseas imports for high-end polyether silicone oil brands, and the green and customized transformation of the industry has entered an accelerated stage.
Polyether silicone oil (polyether modified silicone), as a functional silicone additive with both hydrophilic and lipophilic properties, is widely known as the "industrial MSG" of fine chemicals due to its core advantages such as low surface tension, excellent wetting and leveling, low foaming emulsification, and temperature resistance and stability. It covers dozens of tracks such as water-based coatings, cosmetics cleaning and protection, textile printing and dyeing, agricultural plant protection, polyurethane foaming, electronic cleaning, etc. Industry research data shows that the global polyether silicone oil market will reach US$3.442 billion in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 9.3% from 2026 to 2032; the domestic market size is expected to exceed 12 billion yuan by the end of 2026, of which the combined consumption of daily chemicals and coatings accounts for more than 60%. The demand for new energy batteries, semiconductor precision cleaning and other emerging tracks has grown by more than 15%, becoming a new engine for industry growth.
Previously, the high-end market has long been monopolized by overseas companies such as Wacker, Evonik, and Dow. Imported products have long supply cycles and high prices. The new EU REACH regulations and domestic organic silicone green standards continue to tighten, and restrictive indicators such as cyclosiloxane, VOC, and PFAS continue to increase, forcing domestic companies to accelerate self-research and iteration. The new generation polyether silicone oil series put into mass production this time adopts a solvent-free catalytic synthesis process. The residual cyclosiloxane content of the finished product is less than 0.03%, which is well below the 0.05% mandatory limit of the national standard. It is fully suitable for high environmental threshold scenarios such as maternal and infant care, food contact coatings, and semiconductor low-ion cleaning. It can also benchmark against mainstream imported leveling and defoaming brands of TEGO and BYK. The overall cost is reduced by 25%-35% and the supply cycle is shortened. 70%, fully realizing import substitution.The core of this technological breakthrough is concentrated in three major dimensions:
1.Customized modification of molecular structure
By adjusting the length of the siloxane main chain and the ratio of polyether EO/PO blocks, the company has developed four series of special models: hydrophilic, hydrophobic, low-foaming, and acid and alkali resistant. Paint-grade polyether silicone oil can completely solve the problems of paint film shrinkage and orange peel; daily chemical-grade products are mild and non-irritating, suitable for cleansing oil, conditioner, and sunscreen systems; new energy-specific brands are suitable for wetting and dispersing lithium battery aqueous slurries; semiconductor-specific low-metal ion models meet the needs of precision wafer cleaning, achieving one-to-one precise formula customization for segmented scenarios.
2.Green continuous production innovation
The traditional batch synthesis process consumes a lot of organic solvents and produces high waste gas emissions; the new production line adopts a closed-loop catalytic reaction system, which reduces solvent consumption by 70%, organic waste gas emissions by 65%, and energy consumption per ton of product by 18%. It has passed the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's organic silicon green factory evaluation standards and is in line with the policy guidance of the "15th Five-Year Plan" for the low-carbon transformation of fine chemicals.
3.Complete upstream industrial chain supporting facilities
Relying on the stable supply of domestic silicone monomer leaders such as Hoshine Silicone and Xin'an Co., Ltd., coupled with the large-scale production capacity of local polyether polyols, the core raw material self-sufficiency rate has increased to 90%, effectively hedging the risk of overseas raw material price fluctuations, and the industry's anti-cyclical ability has been significantly enhanced.
Industry analysts said that the current polyether silicone oil market is showing a pattern of "overcapacity for general purposes and shortage of high-end products." In 2026, the operating rate of domestic general-purpose products will be less than 75%, but high value-added co-modified, low VOC, and bio-based polyether silicone oils are in short supply. As water-based coatings fully replace solvent-based coatings, domestic beauty products go overseas, and the new energy industry expands production, the demand gap for high-end polyether silicone oil will continue to expand in the next three years.
At the policy level, the "General Specifications for Green Evaluation of Silicone Products" implemented in 2026 will force downstream additive companies to give priority to low-ring environmentally friendly silicone oils, which will further eliminate low-end backward production capacity and promote industry concentration. Leading domestic companies revealed that they will continue to increase research and development of bio-based polyether silicone oil in the second half of the year, replace petroleum-based raw materials with plant-based polyethers, create a fully degradable silicone additive product line, and seize the global green materials market share.
When interviewed, the person in charge of the industry pointed out that the mass production of domestically produced high-end polyether silicone oil will not only reduce the production costs of mid-stream and downstream coatings, daily chemicals, and new materials companies, but also improve the shortcomings of the domestic silicone deep processing industry chain, helping China's fine chemical additives field to get rid of overseas technology constraints. Subsequent companies will simultaneously lay out distribution and warehousing bases in Southeast Asia, rely on cost-effective advantages to expand overseas textile and agricultural auxiliary markets, and enhance the global competitiveness of local silicone products.
Polyether silicone oil is an indispensable core additive for water-based systems, and the implementation of high-end localization is a key step in upgrading the silicone industry chain. Against the background of tightening global environmental regulations and the refinement and upgrading of downstream manufacturing industries, local companies with low-residue, customized, and low-carbon production capabilities will enjoy long-term import substitution dividends; the core of future technology competition will focus on the three major directions of bio-based modification, ultra-low ion purity, and multi-functional compound integration.
