Our History
Join us on a journey through over 100 years of history. A success story from 1914 to the present day – with groundbreaking innovations and pioneering ideas to forge ahead in the 21st century.
“Net Zero by 2045” target validated
Geared toward the 1.5 °C goal stipulated in the Paris Agreement, WACKER’s climate strategy has been endorsed by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). This makes WACKER one of the first chemical companies worldwide with a validated net zero target.
Expanding the site in South Korea
After a 20-month construction phase, Wacker Chemie AG started up a new spray dryer for producing dispersible polymer powders in Ulsan, South Korea. The new facility was part of the site’s ongoing expansion to increase the company’s production capacity for dispersions and dispersible polymer powders in Asia.
Commissioning of the production plant for dispersible polymer powders in Nanjing
The Nanjing plant, which can produce 30,000 metric tons of polymer powders a year, is the largest of its kind in China. WACKER is the sole supplier of polyvinyl-acetate-based polymer dispersions and dispersible polymer powders – with production sites on all three key continents.
A new site in Saxony
With the purchase of the Nünchritz plant, WACKER acquired an important new site for silicones – and created ideal conditions for the production of innovative silicone products. Over the following decade, the site was gradually expanded. Today, it is one of the three WACKER sites worldwide that produce hyperpure polycrystalline silicon.
Founding of DRAWIN Vertriebs-GmbH
In May 1987, DRAWIN Vertriebs-GmbH was founded as a wholly owned subsidiary of Wacker Chemie AG. It took over some areas of the WACKER SILICONES business division's logistics and distribution planning. DRAWIN’s product range now includes around 1,000 different silicone products sold in over 100 countries worldwide. Its strengths are fast shipping, the flexible combination of different types and quantities of products and a wide, readily available product range.
The birth of Siltronic
Wacker Siltronic Corporation was founded in Portland, Oregon, USA, for the manufacture and sales of semiconductor raw materials. The name Siltronic was used here for the first time.
Founding of Wacker Chemitronic Gesellschaft für Elektronik-Grundstoffe mbH
This later became Siltronic. Two new full-scale production plants with distillation columns more than 50 meters high went into operation manufacturing hyperpure polysilicon and distilling the trichlorosilane precursor.
New facilities and buildings were erected in Burghausen, including a 19-meter-high crude silane column and a tank farm for pure and intermediate products. In the decade between 1957 and 1967, annual sales generated from silicon-based plastics increased almost fivefold to 37.8 million West German marks.
Silane and silicone research begins
Following his lecture on “Plastics Containing Silicon,” the young chemist Dr. Siegfried Nitzsche was hired on the spot. He later became the father of WACKER silicones. In 1949 Nitzsche and his colleagues were successful in synthesizing silane for the first time. Soon after, the first silane furnace was up and running.
The outbreak of World War II
Following the outbreak of the second World War, nearly all WACKER operations were deemed important for the war effort. This meant that production of base chemicals such as acetylaldehyde, acetic acid and chlorinated solvents continued unabated. Especially important during this time was the manufacture of high-quality metal alloys such as ferrochrome or ferrosilicon at WACKER’s former plants in Mückenberg and Tschechnitz.
Production of intermediate and end products from acetic acid
This bestseller was in production for almost 100 years. Acetic anhydride is used for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and crease-resistant textile fibers. Production stopped in 1997.
Start of acetone production
With 450 employees, the factory began producing acetone from acetic acid in Burghausen in the middle of the First World War. Suddenly, acetone became important for the war effort: it was used to make synthetic rubber for sealing submarine batteries. This was the starting point on the trajectory to becoming an international chemical company.
