Speculation on closure of Wacker’s polysilicon plant in the US

The German chemicals group Wacker denies plans to close its production facility in Charleston, Tennessee. The company is in talks with the US administration on the Section 232 framework to support the use of US-made polysilicon.

On September 4, Reuters reported (behind paywall) that the German chemicals group Wacker “will make a decision in the coming weeks on whether to close its Charleston, Tennessee, facility” after “the Trump administration’s new trade measures drove away its two remaining customers, according to sources familiar with the matter.”

Although much remains in the realm of speculation at the moment, it seems obvious that Wacker is mulling over closing either its plant in Nünchritz (Germany) or the one in Charleston (USA), or the polysilicon part of one site.

Nünchritz – like Wacker’s main location in Burghausen (Germany) – is producing polysilicon (only solar grade in Nünchritz), silicones and fumed silica (also known as pyrogenic silica) in an integrated chemical factory that re-uses by-products from the various production processes.

Charleston is producing mainly electronic-grade polysilicon for semiconductors, and fumed silica for Wacker’s US silicones factory in Adrian, Michigan. As Alan Crawford, a US consultant for methylchlorosilanes and trichlorosilane processes, explains, it is very expensive to ship fumed silica from Germany to Adrian (which Wacker did before the fumed silica plant in Charleston started up in 2019) because of the very low density of fumed silica.

Wacker: “Too early to assess the impact on our U.S. polysilicon business”

Wacker Corporate Communications Director Rachel Ufer commented on the Reuters report that “we have no plans to close the Charleston facility,” but she also said that President Trump’s Section 232 proclamation on import restrictions for polysilicon, wafers, solar cells and modules “does not, as it reads now, effectively support the use of U.S. made polysilicon.”

This confirms the gossip that Wacker is not happy with the outcome of the Section 232 investigation. According to Ufer, the company is “actively engaged in constructive discussions with the Administration regarding ways to ensure that the Poly Section 232 framework delivers on its intended objective of supporting a sustainable U.S. polysilicon industry. (…) Given these discussions, it is too early to assess the impact on our U.S. polysilicon business.”

Whoever put the information about Charleston out, it certainly serves to pile pressure on the Trump administration.

While the lost “two remaining customers” mentioned in the Reuters article sound dramatic, it should be clear that these were buyers of solar-grade polysilicon, which is only a small portion of the output in Charleston.