Silicon

Overview

Silicon is the second most abundant element in the Earth's crust, at 27.7% by mass, but it never occurs uncombined in nature. It is found as silica (quartz and sand) and as silicate minerals, and the metal is made commercially by reducing silica with carbon in an electric furnace.¹

This page covers silicon metal. Most of it goes into aluminum alloys and into silicones, the silicon-based polymers used in sealants, lubricants and cosmetics. A smaller share is refined into ultra-high-purity polysilicon for solar cells and semiconductors.²¹ Ferrosilicon, an iron-silicon alloy used mainly in steelmaking and foundries, has its own page.

The raw material is abundant; supply risk comes from the concentration of smelting and refining. The United States added silicon to its list of critical minerals in November 2025.²³ The EU lists silicon metal as both a critical and a strategic raw material.⁴

Where it comes from

Silicon metal and ferrosilicon are both made from silica, usually quartzite. World resources are abundant and, in most producing countries, adequate for many decades.²

The US Geological Survey (USGS) reports output on a silicon-content basis in two categories: ferrosilicon and metallurgical-grade silicon metal. In 2025 world production was an estimated 4.6 million t of silicon metal and 5.0 million t of silicon in ferrosilicon, excluding withheld US data. China produced about 4.0 million t of the silicon metal and almost 80% of all silicon materials. Global output fell from 2024.²

• China4,000,000 t · 87%
• Brazil180,000 t · 4%
• Norway130,000 t · 3%
• France68,000 t · 1%
• Australia47,000 t · 1%
• Other countries165,000 t · 4%

Metallurgical-grade silicon metal only; ferrosilicon is excluded. US production is withheld by USGS and is not in the world total. "Other countries" groups Russia, Canada, Iceland, Germany, South Africa, Kazakhstan, Spain and the USGS "other countries" line. Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Silicon

Outside China, the largest silicon metal producers are Brazil, Norway and France. Norway's output fell from an estimated 90,000 t in 2024 to 68,000 t in 2025.² In the European Commission's 2023 criticality assessment, China accounted for 76% of global silicon metal supply, and the EU produced about 5% of it, in France, Spain and Slovakia. Norway was the EU's largest supplier, at 35% of EU sourcing.⁵

Polysilicon is even more concentrated. In 2022 the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that China's share of every stage of solar panel manufacturing, polysilicon included, exceeded 80%. It also reported that China's Xinjiang region alone accounted for 40% of global polysilicon manufacturing.⁶ In the United States three companies produced polysilicon in 2025. A fourth facility had announced at the end of 2024 that it would stop production.²

What it is used for

In the United States the main consumers of silicon metal are aluminum-alloy producers and the chemical industry, especially silicone makers.² Alloys, particularly aluminum-silicon and iron-silicon, take the majority of all silicon. Silicones are used in lubricants, cosmetics and waterproof sealants.¹

The EU's 2023 assessment allocated just over half of EU silicon metal use to chemical applications and 38% to aluminum alloys. Solar and electronic uses, which require polysilicon, accounted for the rest.⁵

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Specially treated, ultra-pure silicon is the base material of computer chips and other microelectronic devices.¹

Grades and forms

USGS distinguishes metallurgical-grade silicon metal from polysilicon, the ultra-high-purity semiconductor and solar grades made from it. The US tariff schedule separates silicon by purity: at least 99.99% silicon, 99.00% to below 99.99%, and lower grades.²

Trade and policy

The United States relied on imports for more than half of its silicon metal consumption in 2025. Imports rose about 50% to an estimated 180,000 t, which USGS linked partly to tariff uncertainty and concerns about possible export restrictions elsewhere. In 2021–24 the main sources of US silicon metal imports were Brazil (38%), Canada (29%), Norway (12%) and Australia (6%).²

In the EU, the Critical Raw Materials Act sets 2030 benchmarks for strategic raw materials such as silicon metal: 10% of EU consumption from EU extraction, 40% from EU processing and 25% from recycling, and no more than 65% from any single third country.⁴ The EU's 2023 assessment put EU import reliance for silicon metal at 64%.⁵

This section is factual background, not legal or trade-compliance advice.

Recycling and substitution

Recycling of silicon metal is insignificant in the United States.² The EU's 2023 assessment put the end-of-life recycling input rate at 0%.⁵

Gallium arsenide and germanium are the main substitutes for silicon in semiconductor and infrared applications. Aluminum, silicon carbide and silicomanganese can replace ferrosilicon in some uses.²

Sources

1. Silicon: element information, properties and uses. Royal Society of Chemistry, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Silicon. U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

3. Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals. Federal Register. ↩ ↩²

4. Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 (Critical Raw Materials Act). EUR-Lex, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²

5. Study on the Critical Raw Materials for the EU 2023 – Final Report. European Commission, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

6. Solar PV Global Supply Chains: Executive summary. International Energy Agency, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

7. Adjusting Imports of Polysilicon and its Derivatives into the United States. The White House, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²