Opportunities Report
Opportunity management system
WACKER’s opportunity management system remained unchanged from the previous year. It is both a divisional and Group-level instrument. We identify operational opportunities and leverage them in our business divisions, as they have the detailed product and market expertise required. We continuously use market observation and analysis tools to obtain, for example, a well-structured evaluation of industrial, market and competitor data. In addition, we conduct customer interviews to evaluate future opportunities. The monitoring process – how WACKER seizes opportunities – is based on key indicators (such as rolling forecasts and current-status reporting).
Strategic opportunities of overriding importance – such as strategy adjustments, potential acquisitions, collaborations and partnerships – are handled at the Executive Board level. Such opportunities are incorporated into WACKER’s annual strategy-development and planning process, with current issues discussed at regular Executive Board meetings. As a general rule, we elaborate different scenarios and risk-opportunity profiles for these issues before making decisions.
WACKER has identified a whole range of opportunities for advancing the Group’s success over the next few years.
Overall economic opportunities
Although significant challenges are jeopardizing economic growth, WACKER sees good, medium-term opportunities for growing at a faster pace than global chemical production, especially in young markets and sales regions. The strongest momentum, in our view, will come from Asia in the next few years. We are present in these markets in order to leverage such opportunities. Should energy costs in Germany fall to an internationally competitive level and should WACKER benefit from this trend at its German sites, this would also translate into growth opportunities. Additional growth potential for WACKER stems from programs in the USA and Europe to strengthen crucial technologies and industry sectors in regions where we are already present, and to locally strengthen the value chains involved. This includes semiconductor production, for example.
Sector-specific opportunities
Sector-specific opportunities primarily result from our broad product portfolio, which allows us to respond to global megatrends. For example: the advance of urbanization, the trend toward conserving natural resources and energy, the reduction of carbon emissions, the world’s increasing mobility needs, and the growing demand for products that improve health and the quality of life. These trends remain as important as ever to our business.
Rising affluence in emerging-market economies, particularly in Asia, coupled with ever more stringent market and customer requirements, is fueling demand for products incorporating high-value silicones. To benefit from this trend, WACKER intends to keep raising the percentage of high-value specialty silicones in its portfolio versus standard products. Areas of special focus range from the automotive and cosmetics sectors to personal care, health, medicine, electronics and composite materials. Our aim is to meet this growth with innovative products and technologies. We use rising sustainability requirements as opportunities for our sustainable products. Relevant certifications offer an opportunity to generate additional growth in this area.
We see good growth prospects for the Silicones division in the electrical and electronics market, especially in automotive electronics. Growth is being spurred by digitalization, connectivity and electromobility. Electronic automotive assistance systems, for example, are becoming increasingly important and are indispensable for autonomous driving. Silicone gels and silicone encapsulants reliably protect the sensors and electronic components needed in such vehicles. In the coming years, electromobility is likely to gain further momentum. Electric vehicles require high-performance batteries. And we offer the thermally conductive silicones needed to enable effective thermal management, thus ensuring long-lasting, maintenance-free batteries. We also see market opportunities for medical and wound-care applications.
At the Polymers division, growth potential stems from the rising affluence of emerging economies, from increasing urbanization, and from the trend toward conserving natural resources and cutting carbon dioxide emissions. The shift away from conventional building materials and construction methods to value-added systems is set to continue. The scarcity of raw materials, like sand for example, boosts the use of high-quality building materials. Our products contribute to durability by affording protection from damage, which means fewer repairs and, as a result, fewer resources. The use of dispersible polymer powders for modifying dry mortar remains a key aspect here. The addition of these powders enables mortar mixtures not only to be processed more easily and applied more thinly, but also to have substantially improved properties. The Polymers division continues to see growth potential in environmentally friendly water-based paints and coatings. We work continually to avoid substances of very high concern such as volatile organic solvents or formaldehyde. The importance of a circular economy continues to grow, and we are supporting trends such as the use of renewable raw materials and the replacement of plastic packaging with paper.
The Biosolutions division expects major growth opportunities from bioengineered products. Thanks to our technologies, we are well placed in the contract manufacturing of pharmaceutical proteins, messenger RNA, plasmid DNA, live microbial products (LMPs) and vaccines based on bacteria. The division’s second pillar is fermentation-based manufacturing of high-quality ingredients for various end markets, such as nutritional supplements, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. In 2025, WACKER opened its Biotechnology Center in Munich, further strengthening its research activities in the field of biotechnology. The additional research capacity will provide us with opportunities to accelerate the growth of this business division.
The main growth opportunities for our polysilicon activities come from strong demand for semiconductors and for the monocrystalline silicon used in highly efficient solar cells. We produce polysilicon of consistently very high quality – the kind that is crucial for making increasingly powerful semiconductors. Our new cleaning line in Burghausen, which went into operation in July 2025 and increases our capacity by around 50 percent, allows our customers to benefit from a further improvement in surface purity. Additional opportunities for the division stem from programs in the USA and Europe to strengthen crucial technologies, such as semiconductor and photovoltaic production, in the regions where we are present, or to re-establish local value chains there.
Strategic opportunities
In order to make the most of our divisions’ opportunities for further growth, we will concentrate on meeting rising customer demand and bolstering our downstream-product capacity, particularly for specialties. In 2026, though, our capital expenditures in this area will be significantly below the prior-year level. Our investments will mainly focus on manufacturing plants for intermediates and downstream products, as well as on measures to optimize and maintain existing facilities. The Silicones division will account for the largest share of investment spending. The prime focus here in 2026 will be on expanding the production of specialty silanes and oligomers at the site in Jining (China) and on establishing the new site in Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic) to increase the production of specialty silicones.
Performance-related opportunities
WACKER has a number of opportunities for improving its cost structures, processes and productivity. In October 2025, the company launched a global cost-cutting project called PACE with the aim of saving over €300 million a year. The focus is on cutting production-related costs, primarily in the chemical divisions, and administrative costs. At the Polysilicon division, moreover, we are continuing to implement our program to cut production costs on an ongoing basis.
Accounting-related opportunities
The equity-accounted investment in Siltronic AG could give rise to accounting-related opportunities if the enterprise value were to increase as a result of improved market and business prospects or rising share prices. A sustained increase in Siltronic AG’s earnings prospects or a positive development in the capital market environment could lead to an increase in the recoverable amount. In this sort of scenario, impairment losses would have to be reversed, which would have a positive effect on the Group net result.