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54 min ago 1 min read
China is to impose high provisional duties on Japanese dichlorosilane, the electronic specialty gas that is pivotal to semiconductor chip manufacturing.
Rates have been set 99.2% for Shin-Etsu Chemical, 80.8% for Denal Silane and 99.2% for other Japanese producers, according to China’s commerce ministry.
The move follows an eight-month investigation that found dumped imports had harmed local manufacturers. Importers of dichlorosilane will now pay corresponding cash deposits.
Japan dominates production through major producers such as Shin-Etsu, Nippon Sanso and Sumitomo Seika.
The Japanese government has lodged strong formal protests and asked Beijing to withdraw the measures, exacerbating ongoing bilateral trade friction.
Chinese semiconductor manufacturers have increasingly shifted sourcing toward alternative suppliers, such as South Korea, which became China’s top provider of dichlorosilane in 2025.
Dichlorosilane is both a compound and a gas, acting as a silicon precursor gas in reduced-pressure systems to grow uniform, high-purity single-crystal silicon layers on substrates. It is also used in silicon oxide and silicon nitride deposition, polysilicon deposition and metal silicide formation.
