Silicon Metal

The base metalloid of aluminum alloys, silicones, chips, and solar polysilicon.

Overview

Silicon metal smelts quartz with carbon in arc furnaces, China dominant by far, with Brazil, Norway, and the US producing the rest, and power prices deciding geography. Aluminum alloys take a large share for castability, silicone chemistry takes another, and solar polysilicon, purified in Siemens and fluidized bed processes, became a Chinese specialty holding over 90 percent of capacity, whose overproduction collapsed panel costs worldwide. The adjacent ferrosilicon alloy deoxidizes steel, and magnesium ferrosilicon ductilizes iron. The 2021 European energy crisis curtailed smelters and spiked prices, and trade cases circle the solar grade chain.