Producer
Dow Inc. (Dow Silicones)
Dow Inc. (Midland, Michigan; NYSE: DOW; ~$45B revenue) operates Dow Silicones — formerly Dow Corning Corporation, a 1943 joint venture between Dow Chemical and Corning Inc. Dow acquired Corning's 50% stake in 2016 for $4.8B, making Dow Silicones a wholly owned subsidiary. Dow Silicones is the world's largest single silicone producer with approximately 25-30% of the global silicone market. The Midland, Michigan campus (the original Dow Chemical / Dow Corning headquarters) is the founding site of commercial silicone chemistry in the Western world, producing methylchlorosilane intermediates via the Müller-Rochow process since the 1940s. Personal care grade dimethicone (polydimethylsiloxane, PDMS) — sold under the XIAMETER and DOW CORNING brand names with viscosities ranging from 5 cSt (light fluid) to 1,000,000 cSt (gum) — is manufactured at Midland MI and at the Carrollton, Kentucky plant. Dow Silicones' XIAMETER brand is the commodity-grade silicone platform that supplies high-volume dimethicone to major personal care manufacturers including Unilever, Procter & Gamble, L'Oréal, and Henkel.
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Personal Care Silicones
25%Industrial & Performance Silicones
30%Semiconductor & Electronics
20%Medical Grade Silicones
15%Aerospace & Defense Silicones
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Did you know2023
Dow Silicones produces polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) that is simultaneously: the dimethicone in your hair conditioner that creates the silky, anti-frizz feeling (personal care supply chain); the underfill encapsulant that protects TSMC-fabricated chips inside iPhone and server processors from mechanical stress (semiconductor supply chain); the gel used in silicone breast implants and cochlear implant housings (medical device supply chain); and the sealant compound in Boeing 787 fuselage joints (aerospace supply chain). Different viscosities and grades of the same PDMS polymer chemistry serve four completely different critical supply chains from the same Midland, Michigan and Carrollton, Kentucky manufacturing infrastructure. A disruption at Dow's methylchlorosilane synthesis facility in Midland would simultaneously affect shampoo formulations, semiconductor packaging, cardiac device manufacturing, and aircraft assembly. When Dow Corning filed for bankruptcy in 1995 (due to silicone breast implant litigation), the resulting disruption in silicone supply affected industrial adhesives, automotive seals, and electronics manufacturing — sectors that had no connection to the legal controversy but shared the same production infrastructure.
Dow Inc. ↗Origin2023
Dow Corning (now Dow Silicones) was founded in 1943 in Midland, Michigan as a joint venture between Dow Chemical and Corning Glass Works — an unusual partnership of a chemical company and a glassmaker. The founding was directly driven by World War II military requirements: the US military needed materials that could function at both extremely low temperatures (aircraft at altitude in the stratosphere) and extremely high temperatures (engine components). E.G. Rochow at General Electric had invented the Müller-Rochow direct synthesis process for methylchlorosilane in 1940 — the foundational chemistry for commercial silicone production. Dow Chemical licensed Rochow's process and teamed with Corning Glass (which had expertise in silicon-based materials through its glass chemistry) to commercialize silicone for wartime applications. The first Dow Corning product was a silicone-based varnish for spark plug ignition systems that prevented electrical shorts caused by moisture and temperature extremes during aircraft operations. Silicone chemistry, developed under wartime urgency in Midland, Michigan, has since expanded into every material-sensitive application from hair conditioner to semiconductor packaging to artificial heart valves — all from the direct synthesis process that E.G. Rochow invented to protect WWII aircraft spark plugs.
Dow Inc. ↗