What is it?
The second-most-common element in the Earth's crust — ordinary sand — purified until only one atom in a billion is something else.
Why does it matter?
Every chip and almost every solar panel starts as a single silicon crystal. The purification, not the raw material, is the hard part.
Deeper written sections for this material have not been published yet. Everything below is drawn straight from the source datasets and is complete.
Where it comes from in the rock
All ore minerals →These are the minerals that actually carry silicon. A deposit is only an orebody if one of them is concentrated enough to pay for digging it up.
Who produces it
See it on a map →Ferrosilicon
Ferrosiliconthousand metric tons 2025 (estimated) World total 5,000 thousand metric tons
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · USGS silicon figures are silicon CONTENT of ferrosilicon plus silicon metal, not polysilicon. · source ↗
Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.
| Country | Production | Share of world |
|---|---|---|
| China | 3,500 | 70.0% |
| Russia | 420.0 | 8.4% |
| Brazil | 170.0 | 3.4% |
| Norway | 150.0 | 3.0% |
| Other countries | 140.0 | 2.8% |
| Kazakhstan | 120.0 | 2.4% |
| Malaysia | 120.0 | 2.4% |
| Bhutan | 98.00 | 2.0% |
| Iceland | 72.00 | 1.4% |
| India | 59.00 | 1.2% |
| Spain | 40.00 | 0.8% |
| South Africa | 35.00 | 0.7% |
| Canada | 23.00 | 0.5% |
| France | 21.00 | 0.4% |
| United States | Withheld | — |
| Australia | Zero | — |
| Germany | Zero | — |
| World total | 5,000 | 100% |
Silicon metal
Silicon metalthousand metric tons 2025 (estimated) World total 4,600 thousand metric tons
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · USGS silicon figures are silicon CONTENT of ferrosilicon plus silicon metal, not polysilicon. · source ↗
Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.
| Country | Production | Share of world |
|---|---|---|
| China | 4,000 | 87.0% |
| Brazil | 180.0 | 3.9% |
| Norway | 130.0 | 2.8% |
| France | 68.00 | 1.5% |
| Australia | 47.00 | 1.0% |
| Other countries | 46.00 | 1.0% |
| Russia | 35.00 | 0.8% |
| Canada | 34.00 | 0.7% |
| Iceland | 16.00 | 0.3% |
| Germany | 13.00 | 0.3% |
| South Africa | 10.00 | 0.2% |
| Kazakhstan | 7.00 | 0.2% |
| Spain | 4.00 | 0.1% |
| India | Zero | — |
| Malaysia | Zero | — |
| United States | Withheld | — |
| Bhutan | Zero | — |
| World total | 4,600 | 100% |
“Withheld” means the USGS suppressed the figure to avoid disclosing an individual company's data — it does not mean zero. Country rows do not always sum to the world total because the source rounds each figure independently and does not always break out an “other countries” line.
Price
average, cents per pound of silicon: Silicon metal
Annual averagecents per pound
Basis: average, cents per pound of silicon: Silicon metal. Annual averages as published in USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · source ↗. These are reference annual averages, not a live market quote.
average, cents per pound of silicon: Ferrosilicon, 75% silicon
Annual averagecents per pound
Basis: average, cents per pound of silicon: Ferrosilicon, 75% silicon. Annual averages as published in USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · source ↗. These are reference annual averages, not a live market quote.
Where it is processed and refined
| Plant | Kind | Stage | Country | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung Pyeongtaek Campus | Semiconductor fab | Component | South Korea | Input |
| TSMC Fab 18, Tainan | Semiconductor fab | Component | Taiwan | Input |
| Hemlock Semiconductor Polysilicon Plant | Chemical plant | Refining | United States | Input |
| Xinjiang & Inner Mongolia Polysilicon Cluster | Chemical plant | Refining | China | Input |
What it is used for
All end markets →| End market | What it does there | Importance |
|---|---|---|
| Data Centres & AI | Processors, memory and power conversion | Defining |
| Solar Power | The cell itself | Defining |
| Semiconductors | The wafer | Defining |
| Consumer Electronics | Every chip | Defining |
| Robotics & Automation | Controllers and sensors | Defining |
| Electric Vehicles | Power electronics and anode additive | Important |
| Power Grids | Grid-scale power electronics and HVDC valves | Important |
How much of it a technology needs
| Technology | Quantity | Quoted | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crystalline Silicon Solar Module | 2,500–4,000 kg | per MW of capacity | Polysilicon in the wafers |
| Gallium Nitride Power Device | trace | per device | Common substrate for GaN-on-Si |
| Leading-Edge Logic Chip | 0.12–0.15 kg | per 300 mm wafer | One 300 mm wafer weighs about 125 g |
Indicative range compiled from published technology studies and chemistry; verify against a manufacturer specification before use. Run these numbers at any scale in the material calculator →
Follow it across the borders
All journeys →Where a consignment of this material actually goes — every country, every custodian, and what is left behind at each step.
A quarry in North Carolina to the chip in your phone The most valuable sand on Earth, and almost all of it comes from one small district.