On February 5, 2026, Hangzhou, China - Faced with global supply chain fluctuations and geopolitical risks, China's ethyl silicone oil industry chain is breaking through key technological bottlenecks and accelerating the process of domestic substitution through upstream and downstream collaborative innovation. According to statistics from the China Fluorosilicone Organic Materials Industry Association, the self-sufficiency rate of ethyl silicone oil in China has increased from 65% in 2020 to 82% by 2025. However, high-end electronic products still rely on imports, with an import dependency rate of 18%.


Breakthrough in domestication of upstream raw materials
The core raw materials of ethyl silicone oil include chloroethane, metallic silicon, etc. In the past, the production of chloroethane relied on petroleum routes, which were costly and carbon intensive. In 2025, Shandong Dongyue Chemical successfully developed coal based chloroethane preparation technology, which reduces costs by 20% compared to petroleum routes and reduces carbon emissions by 35%. This technology has been applied in its annual production of 50000 tons of chloroethane project, meeting 60% of the raw material needs of surrounding ethyl silicone oil enterprises. In terms of metallic silicon, Hesheng Silicon Industry has increased the purity of industrial silicon from 99.5% to 99.9% through technological transformation, providing guarantees for the production of high-end ethyl silicone oil.


Midstream enterprises focus on technological breakthroughs
Leading enterprises break through the bottleneck technology through industry university research cooperation. In June 2025, the "high-purity ethyl silicone oil preparation technology" jointly developed by Shandong University and Xin'an Chemical Industry was granted national patent authorization. This technology uses molecular sieve distillation process to control the metal ion content of the product below 0.1ppm, reaching the international advanced level. It has been applied to Huawei's 5G base station thermal conductive material project. In addition, the "low-temperature curing ethyl silicone oil" developed by Jiangxi Blue Star Spark Organic Silicon breaks the foreign monopoly, reducing the curing temperature from 150 ℃ to 80 ℃ and energy consumption by 40%. It has been certified by end customers such as Xiaomi and OPPO.


Expanding downstream applications to new scenarios
In the field of consumer electronics, ethyl silicone oil-based flexible display packaging materials have become a key material for foldable smartphones due to their high transmittance and strong bending resistance. In 2025, BOE, TCL Huaxing and other companies jointly developed an ethyl silicone oil/polyimide composite packaging layer, which increased the lifespan of foldable screens from 200000 times to 500000 times. In the medical field, ethyl silicone oil-based artificial heart valve lubricant has passed FDA certification and will enter the clinical stage in 2026, with an estimated market size of 200 million yuan.


Policies and standards guide industry norms
In December 2025, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Quality Grading Standards for Ethyl Silicone Oil Products", which divided the products into three categories: general grade, electronic grade, and medical grade, and clarified key indicators such as volatility and metal ion content. After the implementation of this standard, the industry CR5 (market share of the top five enterprises) increased from 52% in 2020 to 68%, and low-end production capacity accelerated its clearance.


Enterprise Voice: The General Manager of Xin'an Chemical's Organic Silicon Business Unit stated, "In the next three years, we will invest 800 million yuan to build a national level research and development center, focusing on the application of ethyl silicone oil in semiconductor packaging, aerospace lubrication and other fields, and strive to achieve 100% localization of high-end products by 2028