WACKER builds new production facility for granular solar polysilicon in Burghausen

- First commercial-scale production of granular polysilicon for the
solar industry - New facility's nominal capacity set for 650 metric
tons per year, with capex of approx. €40 million - New production
technology enables processing advantages and boosts energy efficiency

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capital investment

Munich / Burghausen (euro adhoc) - July 16, 2007 - WACKER intends to
build a new granular-polysilicon production facility for the solar
industry at its Burghausen site in Germany. The Munich-based chemical
Group announced the decision today. With annual nominal capacity of
650 metric tons, the new facility is expected to come on stream by
the end of 2008. It will manufacture granular solar-grade polysilicon
from trichlorosilane using the so-called fluidized-bed technology.
Granular polysilicon offers processing advantages to solar-wafer
manufacturers that employ certain production techniques, thereby
supplementing WACKER´s existing product portfolio for the
photovoltaics industry. WACKER successfully tested its new method in
pilot reactors over the past 2½ years and is now initiating
first-ever commercial-scale production.

"With commercial manufacture of granular polysilicon from
trichlorosilane, WACKER underscores its innovation and technology
leadership in this sector," explained Ewald Schindlbeck, president of
WACKER POLYSILICON. "Tests by customers who manufacture solar wafers
(the starting material for solar cells) via continuous
crystallization show that processing granular polysilicon is far more
efficient than conventional techniques using polysilicon chunks.
Moreover, the comparatively low energy consumption vis-à-vis
conventional deposition positively impacts the energy balance of
solar cells. Another advantage of our new method lies in the high
yield provided by trichlorosilane as a feedstock."

For over 50 years, WACKER´s Burghausen site has been producing
hyperpure polycrystalline silicon for the semiconductor industry.
With rising solar-silicon demand, WACKER POLYSILICON has been
expanding capacity step by step and, since 2000, increasingly
supplying the photovoltaics industry. The division is currently the
world´s second-largest polysilicon producer.

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.

end of announcement euro adhoc 16.07.2007 07:28:44
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ots Originaltext: Wacker Chemie AG
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Further inquiry note:
Christof Bachmair
Media Relations & Information
Tel.: +49 (0)89 6279 1830
E-Mail: christof.bachmair@wacker.com

Branche: Chemicals
ISIN: DE000WCH8881
WKN: WCH888
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Börsen: Börse Frankfurt / official dealing/prime standard