(May 16, 2026) A number of leading domestic silica companies have released technical achievements, making important breakthroughs in the research and development and production process optimization of high-end gas-phase silica and modified silica, breaking the monopoly of foreign technology, promoting the domestic silica industry to move towards high-end and refinement, and providing support for the upgrading of downstream high-end manufacturing industries.
It is reported that a leading chemical company announced today that its self-developed high-purity fumed silica has achieved large-scale mass production, with a product purity of more than 99.98%, and the particle size uniformity is better than that of similar international products, and the performance indicators fully meet the high-end needs of electronics, new energy, high-end coatings and other fields. This technology breaks the long-term technical blockade of foreign enterprises in the field of high-end fumed silica, and the production cost is reduced by more than 30% compared with imported products, which can effectively fill the gap in the domestic high-end market.
At the same time, another company launched a new hydrophobic modified silica product officially launched on the market today, which has excellent waterproof, anti-fouling and dispersion properties through surface modification technology, and is widely used in silicone rubber, sealing materials, high-end daily chemicals and other fields. After testing, the hydrophobic rate of the new product reached 98%, the service life was extended by 20% compared with traditional products, and it quickly obtained orders from downstream enterprises after launch.
From the perspective of the current situation of the industry, the domestic silica market previously showed a pattern of "low-end surplus and high-end shortage", and high-end fumed silica and specially modified silica mainly relied on imports, which restricted the development of downstream high-end manufacturing industries. In recent years, with the continuous increase in R&D investment of domestic enterprises, the speed of technology iteration has accelerated, and the import substitution process of high-end silica has been accelerating. According to relevant data, in the first quarter of 2026, domestic high-end silica imports decreased by 18.6% year-on-year, and the market share of domestic high-end products increased to 42%, an increase of 10.3 percentage points over the same period last year.
Industry experts said in an interview that the technological breakthrough of many enterprises on May 16 marks that the R&D capabilities of the domestic silica industry have reached the international advanced level. In the future, with the continuous maturity of technology and large-scale production, domestic high-end silica will further seize the international market, and at the same time drive the product upgrading of downstream tires, electronics, daily chemicals and other industries, and promote the high-quality development of the entire industrial chain.
In addition, with the continuous tightening of environmental protection policies, green production has become an inevitable trend in the development of the silica industry. The companies that released the technical achievements said that they synchronously optimized the production process in the research and development process, adopted a closed-loop recycling system, realized the standard discharge of wastewater and waste gas in the production process, and helped the industry achieve "cost reduction, efficiency increase and green" development.
