During the opening ceremony, Ewald Schindlbeck, WACKER POLYSILICON president, explained the Munich-based chemical company’s ambitious investment program to expand its production capacities for hyperpure polycrystalline silicon. The ongoing and planned extensions to WACKER’s Burghausen and Nünchritz sites will, by year-end 2011, boost annual polysilicon capacity from the current 10,000 to over 35,000 tons. By 2011, WACKER will have invested almost €2 billion in its capacity expansion program, which began back in 2000.
The current “Expansion Stage 7” is fully linked with the Burghausen site’s integrated silicon production system. In this highly integrated material loop, by-products are recycled as starter materials for use elsewhere in the supply chain. This cuts costs, while conserving resources and strengthening the site’s competitiveness. In total, polysilicon expansion will create some 650 new jobs at the Burghausen plant by late 2010.
In his speech, divisional head Schindlbeck thanked everyone involved in the project – both in-house staff and partner firms – for their tremendous efforts. This, he said, was one of the main reasons WACKER can supply its customers with “Expansion Stage 7” polysilicon several months earlier than planned.
This press release contains forward-looking statements based on assumptions and estimates of WACKER’s Executive Board. Although we assume the expectations in these forward-looking statements are realistic, we cannot guarantee they will prove to be correct. The assumptions may harbor risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual figures to differ considerably from the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause such discrepancies include, among other things, changes in the economic and business environment, variations in exchange and interest rates, the introduction of competing products, lack of acceptance for new products or services, and changes in corporate strategy. WACKER does not plan to update the forward-looking statements, nor does it assume the obligation to do so.
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