(July 23, 2026) The specialty silicone industry continues to receive positive news. Phenyl silicone oil, with its excellent wide-temperature stability, high refractive index, and radiation resistance, is seeing rising demand in high-end sectors such as AI immersion liquid cooling, optical packaging, new energy, and aerospace. With continuous breakthroughs in domestic synthetic purification technology, dependence on high-end phenyl silicone oil imports has steadily decreased, and domestic materials are accelerating their entry into leading companies' supply chains.
Phenyl silicone oil is a high-end silicone oil modified by introducing phenyl groups into the methyl side chain. Unlike ordinary dimethyl silicone oil, it can operate stably across a wide temperature range of -70°C~300°C, is resistant to oxidation and decomposition at high temperatures, and does not crystallize and solidify at low temperatures. At the same time, it has an adjustable refractive index, excellent insulation properties, and radiation resistance, making it an irreplaceable key fluid material in high-end manufacturing. By adjusting the proportion of phenyl moles, it can be divided into two major categories: medium-phenyl general-purpose and high-phenyl special, adapting to different scenario needs.
In the first half of 2026, the construction of computing power infrastructure accelerated, and methylphenyl silicone oil, as the immersion liquid cooling medium for AI intelligent computing centers, saw explosive demand. Industry research data shows that in the first half of the year, domestic shipments of liquid-cooling-specific phenyl silicone oil increased by over 120% year-on-year. Compared to traditional cooling media, phenyl silicone oil is non-corrosive, has strong thermal stability, and low volatility, meeting the long-term continuous cooling requirements of high-density GPU clusters. Currently, several domestic liquid-cooled grade phenyl silicone oils have completed long-term on-site validation in large intelligent computing centers, gradually replacing imported overseas products.
The optics and semiconductor sectors have become another core growth engine. High phenyl silicone oil has a refractive index of 1.50~1.59, high light transmittance, and is not prone to yellowing under long-term light. It is widely used in Mini/Micro LED packaging, optical lens filling, and sealing optical communication devices. With the continuous upgrading of the display industry, orders for high-purity, low-volatility, and low-metal ion phenyl silicone oil have steadily increased. In addition, the products continue to be used in high-temperature lubrication of new energy vehicle motors, diffusion pump oil for vacuum equipment, sealing lubrication for aerospace instruments, and high-end cosmetic substrates.
For a long time, the market for ultra-high phenyl content premium products has been dominated by overseas companies. In recent years, domestic research institutions and silicon material companies have continuously tackled precise molecular regulation and multi-stage molecular distillation purification processes, effectively reducing product impurity content. Many high-phenyl silicone oils have performance comparable to top international brands. At the same time, the national standard "General Technical Specification for Methylphenyl Silicone Oil" has been implemented, unifying product technical indicators and testing methods, further standardizing industry development, and helping downstream customers select localized products.
Industry analysts say that competition in the general silicone market is becoming more intense, and the industry's growth focus continues to shift toward specialty functional silicone oils. The phenyl silicone oil market size is expected to maintain double-digit growth through 2026. In the short term, upstream single raw material prices will fluctuate, leading to divergent corporate profits; In the medium to long term, manufacturers with full industry chain support, stable mass production of high-purity products, and customized formulation solutions will have a prominent competitive advantage.
Looking ahead to the second half of the year, with more intelligent computing centers coming online and expansion in the new energy and optoelectronics industries, demand for phenylyl silicone oil is expected to maintain an upward trend. The company's R&D focus will focus on low-ring environmental grades, long-life high-temperature resistant modified models, and low-viscosity optical specialized phenyl silicone oil, continuously expanding the boundaries of domestic high-end material applications.
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