On December 30, 2025, Beijing, China - With the continuous expansion of the global silicone material market, ethyl silicone oil, as an important member of the silicone oil family, is becoming a "hidden champion" in multiple high value-added fields due to its excellent low-temperature resistance, electrical insulation, and strong compatibility with organic solvents. Chinese domestic enterprises are accelerating their capture of the global high-end market share through technological innovation and capacity expansion.


Driven by market demand, the application scenarios of ethyl silicone oil continue to expand
The working temperature range of ethyl silicone oil is -60 ℃ to 150 ℃, and the temperature viscosity coefficient is small, with excellent lubrication and dielectric properties. Its core application areas include electronic appliances, medical health, precision manufacturing, and new energy. In the electronics industry, ethyl silicone oil is widely used as a high-performance insulation material for circuit board protection, lead frame coating, and high-temperature lubrication scenarios; In the medical field, its biocompatibility advantage makes it a key raw material for implant grade silicone rubber and medical dressings; In the field of new energy, ethyl silicone oil is used as a packaging material for photovoltaic modules, significantly improving their aging resistance.


According to market research institutions' predictions, the global market size of ethyl silicone oil will exceed 10 billion yuan by 2025, with the Asia Pacific region accounting for over 40%. As the world's largest producer and consumer, China's market size growth rate is leading the world. With the rise of emerging industries such as 5G communication, artificial intelligence, and biomedicine, the demand for high-end ethyl silicone oil is showing explosive growth.


Local enterprises make technological breakthroughs and break international monopolies
Faced with the situation where the high-end market is dominated by international giants, Chinese domestic enterprises have achieved key technological breakthroughs through independent research and development. For example, Yunnan Nengtou Silicon Material Technology Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yunneng Silicon Material") successfully mass-produced low ring vinyl silicone oil in 2025 and simultaneously laid out an ethyl silicone oil product line. The company has improved the purity of its products to over 99.9% and reduced volatility by 50% through catalytic process optimization, meeting environmental regulations such as REACH and RoHS in the European Union, and successfully entering the electronic packaging and biomedical materials markets.


In addition, Xinyuan Chemical (Shandong) Co., Ltd. has developed ultra low temperature resistant ethyl silicone oil with its full industry chain advantages, and the minimum working temperature can reach -110 ℃, filling the gap in domestic polar scientific research equipment and deep space probe lubrication materials. The molecular chain design of ethyl silicone oil is the core barrier, "said Yu Pengfei, the business unit manager of the company." We use fluorosilicone co modification technology to ensure that the product can maintain stable performance even in extreme environments


Accelerated capacity expansion and increased industry concentration
In response to market demand, leading Chinese companies have launched expansion plans one after another. In November 2025, Hesheng Silicon Industry announced that its Xinjiang base will build a new functional silicone oil project with an annual output of 100000 tons, including an ethyl silicone oil production capacity of 20000 tons per year, which is expected to be put into operation in 2026. This project adopts potassium process, with narrow molecular weight distribution and light color, which can directly replace imported high-end products.


At the same time, the trend of industry consolidation is intensifying. Wuhan Haorong Biotechnology Co., Ltd. and other enterprises have formed differentiated competitive advantages by vertically integrating upstream raw materials (such as chloroethane and magnesium metal) and downstream applications (such as customized lubrication solutions). According to statistics, the market share of CR5 (the top five companies) in China's ethyl silicone oil industry has increased from 35% in 2020 to 52% in 2025, significantly enhancing the discourse power of top companies.


Challenges and opportunities coexist, and greening has become a new direction
Despite the broad market prospects, the ethyl silicone oil industry still faces challenges such as fluctuations in raw material prices and tightening environmental policies. Taking chloroethane as an example, its price fluctuates greatly due to the influence of the international energy market, directly compressing the profit margin of enterprises. To this end, enterprises such as Yunneng Silicon Materials use a circular economy model to convert production waste into fuel cell hydrogen, achieving cost optimization.


Green production has also become a consensus in the industry. In 2025, many regions in China will introduce policies to restrict the use of high VOC (volatile organic compound) silicone oil, promoting the transformation of enterprises towards low environmental and water-based direction. Xinyuan Chemical has built the first zero emission ethyl silicone oil production line in China. Through molecular sieve adsorption technology, the waste gas recovery rate has been increased to 98%, and the carbon emissions per unit product have been reduced by 40% compared to traditional processes.


Conclusion: Driven by the dual goals of high-end manufacturing upgrading and "dual carbon", China's ethyl silicone oil industry is shifting from scale expansion to quality improvement. Local enterprises are gradually breaking international monopolies through technological innovation and industrial chain collaboration, providing global customers with higher quality and more environmentally friendly solutions. In the future, with the deep integration of artificial intelligence and biotechnology, the application boundaries of ethyl silicone oil will continue to expand, becoming an important force in promoting the development of the new materials industry.