Silicones

Silicones posted a slight drop in sales decline in 2025. Sales came to €2.73 billion (2024: 2.81 billion, down -2.6 percent year over year. This can be traced back to weak demand from the automotive industry, the construction sector and consumer-related customer sectors such as textiles. Exchange-rate effects put pressure on the sales trend as well. From a regional perspective, Silicones’ sales fell in almost all regions. It was only in Europe that they matched the previous year.

EBITDA, too, decreased slightly year over year, coming in at €335.7 million (2024: €340.9 million), down -2.0 percent year over year. EBITDA was impacted by negative volume/mix and currency effects as well as by low plant-utilization rates. The EBITDA margin was 12.3 percent (2024: 12.2 percent).

Capital spending in the Silicones division fell year over year by 24.2 percent to total €201.9 million (2024: €266.3 million). Funds were invested in projects such as the capacity extension measures at the Zhangjiagang site in China, where WACKER manufactures functional silicone fluids, silicone emulsions and silicone elastomer gels. Another investment focus was on the construction of a new production site in Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic, where room-temperature-curing high-performance silicones will be produced in the future. Two new production facilities for specialty silicones were commissioned in Tsukuba, Japan, and Jincheon, South Korea, in the first half of 2025. A new facility for the production of hybrid polymers, which are used as binders in high-quality adhesives and sealants, went into operation in Nünchritz, Germany. As of December 31, 2025, the division had 6,235 employees (December 31, 2024: 6,242 employees).