Where does silicon come from?

Three large Asian buyers of silicon metal lean heavily on China, and the European Union and the United States do not. In 2024 China supplied 67% of Japan's silicon metal imports (HS 280469, by value), 84% of South Korea's and 89% of India's, all above the 65% benchmark used in the supplier exposure report (CEPII BACI). Norway supplied 43% of extra-EU imports and Brazil 43% of US imports in 2024 (CEPII BACI). World trade has no single choke route: the two largest corridors in 2024, China to Thailand and Norway to Germany, each carried about 6.5% of the $4 billion total (our arithmetic on CEPII BACI).

China's weight is far larger in production than in trade. China produced 87% of the world's silicon metal in 2025 (USGS MCS; USGS's world total excludes the United States) but held 41% of HS 280469 export value in 2024 (CEPII BACI). The site's concentration index (the sum of squared percentage shares) shows the same gap: 7,589 for 2025 production against 2,030 for 2024 exports (our arithmetic on USGS MCS and CEPII BACI). The two tables measure different things in different years, silicon content for output and customs value for exports, so the gap is indicative only.

Export prices per tonne vary widely, and the data cannot say why. Among the 16 largest silicon metal exporters by value or weight, customs value in 2024 ran from $2,236 per tonne for China to $7,720 for the United States. In ferrosilicon (HS 720221) the five largest exporters by value split into two tiers: Russia, Malaysia and China shipped at $1,252 to $1,303 per tonne, while Norway shipped at $1,676 and Brazil at $1,714 (our arithmetic on CEPII BACI value and net weight). Each customs line averages over grades, so the data show only that exporters ship products of different average value.

USGS publishes two silicon production series and gives each its own world total, so this page quotes them separately and never adds them. They are silicon metal (the metallurgical grade) and ferrosilicon (an iron and silicon alloy). USGS states that its figures are in silicon content unless otherwise specified, and the world table does not specify otherwise.

For silicon metal, China produced 4 million tonnes in 2025, 87% of the world's 4.6 million tonnes (USGS MCS). Brazil followed with 3.9%, then Norway (2.8%), France (1.5%) and Australia (1%). The top five account for 96%, and 12 countries have published figures, not counting the United States, whose entry is withheld. World output changed -16% on the previous year. The fall came mainly from a lower Chinese estimate. All figures are estimates, and the world totals exclude United States output, which USGS withholds to avoid disclosing company data.

For ferrosilicon, China produced 3.5 million tonnes in 2025, 70% of the world's 5 million tonnes. Russia was second with 8.4% (420,000 tonnes), then Brazil (3.4%), Norway (3%) and Malaysia (2.4%), which is tied with Kazakhstan on 120,000 tonnes in the USGS table. China is less dominant here, and its ferrosilicon estimate rose from 2024 while its silicon metal estimate fell. USGS states that China accounted for almost 80 percent of total global estimated production of silicon materials (ferrosilicon and silicon metal combined) in 2025; this page does not add the two series itself.

USGS does not publish a reserves table for silicon. It says that world and domestic resources for making silicon metal and alloys are abundant and, in most producing countries, adequate to supply world requirements for many decades, and that the source of the silicon is silica in natural forms such as quartzite. This page therefore gives no reserves ranking. USGS adds that US ferrosilicon and silicon metal came from five facilities in 2025, all east of the Mississippi River.

Neither customs line below is the high-purity silicon used in solar cells and chips. HS 280469 is silicon of less than 99.99% purity, the metallurgical grade, and it is the line this page uses for silicon metal. It mixes every purity below that threshold. USGS lists silicon of 99.99% purity or more under a separate tariff subheading (2804.61), and describes polysilicon as a further processing step. This page quotes no trade figures for that higher-purity product.

In 2024 China was the largest exporter of silicon metal (HS 280469) with 41% of world export value, ahead of Norway (12%), Brazil (12%), France (5.4%) and Canada (3.2%), on world trade of $4 billion (CEPII BACI). The largest importer was Germany with 15%, ahead of the United States (13%), Japan (9.4%), Thailand (7.8%) and the Netherlands (6.9%). China is both the leading exporter and only the ninth-largest importer, at 4% of import value.

The trade and production tables are different sources for different years. Norway holds 12% of 2024 export value but 2.8% of the 2025 production estimate, and Brazil holds 12% of export value but 3.9% of production. This page does not reconcile them. See producing, exporting and processing for how to read such tables.

The second line is HS 720221, ferrosilicon with more than 55% silicon. Ferrosilicon at or below that threshold is outside it, and USGS notes that the standard ferrosilicon grades are 50% and 75% silicon plus miscellaneous silicon alloys, so the 50% grade is not captured by this line. In 2024 China led exports with 17% of world export value, ahead of Brazil (9.7%), Malaysia (9.5%), Norway (9.2%) and Russia (7.2%), on world trade of $3.2 billion. The largest importers were Japan (16%), South Korea (9.9%), the United States (8.3%) and India (7.8%). China produces 70% of the ferrosilicon USGS tabulates but accounts for a much smaller share of export value. The tables do not say where the rest of its output goes.

This page quotes no silicon price, because there is no free public series. USGS reports US prices from commercial sources: its table gives an average price in cents per pound of contained silicon for 75% ferrosilicon and for silicon metal, both drawn from the mean import prices published by S&P Global Platts in Metals Week, and it notes that a CRU Group series of spot prices for 50% ferrosilicon was discontinued in April 2022. These are subscription products.

Silicon metal and ferrosilicon have different price series, and HS 280469 spans every purity below 99.99%, so a customs unit value averages over grades. A US import price and a Chinese domestic price are different measurements, so check which market and grade a quote refers to.

There is one exchange benchmark that this site does not carry. According to a Chinese government announcement, the Guangzhou Futures Exchange began trading industrial silicon futures on 22 December 2022. How that contract's specification maps onto the grades in HS 280469 is not covered here.

USGS describes 2025 as follows. According to industry publications cited by USGS, the January through October 2025 average US price of silicon metal was lower than the 2024 annual average. USGS says the decrease was attributed to oversupply, weak demand from the aluminum and silicon industries, and the availability of polysilicon stocks. The average US price of 75% ferrosilicon was higher than in 2024. This page describes nothing after 2025. Companies named below are listed for context on who operates in the market, and naming a listed company is not investment advice. Their headquarters and listing details were read from the source given for each company as of 7 October 2026, except Ferroglobe's, which comes from a May 2025 filing.

USGS's 2025 table puts China's silicon metal estimate at 4 million tonnes, 87% of the world total, lower than in 2024, and its ferrosilicon estimate at 3.5 million tonnes, higher than in 2024. World silicon metal output changed -16%. Citing industry publications, USGS says the fall in the average US silicon metal price in 2025 was attributed to oversupply, weak demand from the aluminum and silicon industries, and polysilicon stock availability.

USGS names producers of aluminum alloys and the chemical industry, in particular makers of silicones, as the main consumers of silicon metal in the United States.

USGS reports that most US ferrosilicon is consumed in the ferrous foundry and steel industries, predominantly in the eastern United States. See the page on steel.

Smelting is an electric process. One steelmaking reference puts power use at roughly 9,000 to 10,000 kilowatt-hours for a tonne of 75% ferrosilicon, which makes electricity a major input.

Silicon metal can be refined into polysilicon, which feeds solar and chip supply chains. USGS reports that a US polysilicon facility announced at the end of 2024 that it would cease production. A section 232 proclamation signed on 6 August 2026 sets minimum import prices for polysilicon, ingots, wafers, cells and modules and a tariff on derivatives, for goods entered from 4 December 2026. As of 7 October 2026 it is not yet in effect.

USGS records an April 2025 US finding of injury from ferrosilicon imports from Brazil, Kazakhstan and Malaysia, leading to antidumping and countervailing duty orders. A November 2025 EU safeguard with country quotas covers ferro-manganese, ferro-silicon, ferro-silico-manganese and ferro-silico-magnesium; silicon metal is not listed. This was read from secondary copies (lawplayer.com and eurometal.net) because EUR-Lex could not be fetched.

Silicon is on the 2025 US critical minerals list and the EU list names silicon metal. Substitutes exist in some applications, according to USGS, which lists aluminum, silicon carbide and silicomanganese for ferrosilicon in some uses and gallium arsenide and germanium for silicon in semiconductor and infrared applications.

Los Alamos National Laboratory describes commercial silicon as prepared by heating silica and carbon in an electric-arc furnace, and USGS notes that US ferrosilicon is sourced primarily from domestic quartzite.

Ferrosilicon is made in a similar way, with an iron source in the charge. A steelmaking reference (ispatguru) describes the raw materials as quartzite lumps, an iron source such as iron ore, steel scrap or mill scale, and a carbon reductant such as coal or petroleum coke, smelted in a submerged arc furnace with self-baking electrodes. The same reference describes the process as very energy-intensive, says silicon recovery is high only if silicon monoxide gas is recovered in the cooler outer layers of the charge, and gives about 85 percent as the typical industrial yield in a well-operated furnace. USGS names two standard grades, 50% and 75% silicon, and groups the miscellaneous silicon alloys with them.

Chips and solar cells use ultra-high-purity silicon, commonly referred to as polysilicon, which USGS describes as a further processing step from silicon metal. The Royal Society of Chemistry describes electronics-grade silicon as prepared by thermal decomposition of ultra-pure trichlorosilane followed by recrystallization. That purification is a separate processing step from the smelting described above.

USGS gives no end-use percentage split for silicon, so this page gives none.

USGS reports that the main US consumers of silicon metal are producers of aluminum alloys and the chemical industry, in particular for making silicones. The Royal Society of Chemistry lists aluminum-silicon alloys for engine components. Silicones are lubricants, sealants and rubber products, according to the same source. A third route is purification to polysilicon, which USGS says three US companies carried out in 2025.

Ferrosilicon goes to steel. USGS reports that most US ferrosilicon is consumed in the ferrous foundry and steel industries, predominantly in the eastern United States. The Royal Society of Chemistry also lists steel deoxidation and silicon carbide abrasives among silicon's uses.

Substitution is possible in some cases. USGS lists aluminum, silicon carbide and silicomanganese as substitutes for ferrosilicon in some applications, and gallium arsenide and germanium as the principal substitutes for silicon in semiconductor and infrared uses. USGS describes recycling of silicon as insignificant.

The chain runs from quartz and carbon, through an electric furnace, to silicon metal or ferrosilicon, and then to different customers. Silicon metal goes to aluminum alloy makers, silicone makers and polysilicon refiners. Ferrosilicon goes to steel and foundries. The production table has 12 countries with published figures (the United States' entry is withheld) but is concentrated, with 94% of silicon metal output from three countries and China alone at 87%. The step USGS describes as further processing, purifying silicon metal to ultra-high purity, is the one that links this page to solar panels and chips.

Silicon is on the US 2025 critical minerals list and the EU list. USGS reports that the US list published on 7 November 2025 added silicon, along with copper, lead, potash, rhenium and silver, and says the additions were based on its updated methodology for the 2025 list. The EU list in Annex II of Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 names silicon metal. The US entry reads silicon and the EU entry silicon metal. The critical minerals hub explains what these lists are and how they differ, and the glossary entry defines the term.

Trade measures act at several points. USGS estimates US net import reliance for silicon metal as above half of apparent consumption in 2025 and below half in 2024, and says 2025 silicon metal imports were substantially higher than in 2024, possibly because of uncertainty about tariffs and possible export restrictions elsewhere. The section 232 proclamation of 6 August 2026 sets minimum import prices and a derivatives tariff for goods entered from 4 December 2026, and as of 7 October 2026 it is not yet in effect. Its Annex I, which lists the minimum-price subheadings, includes HTSUS 2804.61.0000 (silicon of 99.99 percent or more) for polysilicon; the metallurgical line, 2804.69, is not among those subheadings, and USGS likewise lists 2804.61 separately from 2804.69. This page did not check the proclamation's other annex.

No shortage or bottleneck is asserted here. The point is where the stages sit and who is exposed to each.