Located in Shandong Province, Linshu County in Linyi City is neither coastal nor a transportation hub, and it does not produce a single grain of silica sand. Yet, it has remarkably created a range of flagship products by sourcing raw materials from outside. In 2024, Linshu’s silicon-based new materials industry achieved an output value of 2.63 billion yuan and a profit tax of 171 million yuan.
In the production workshop of Shandong Jinwei Nano Materials Co., Ltd., self-developed equipment is operating at high speed, producing nanoscale microsphere materials. “We are the only company in China capable of producing nanoscale microspheres, having overcome 35 key technologies and broken through foreign technical barriers, achieving autonomous control over our equipment and processes,” said company head Hu Shunping proudly.
For many years, China was unable to produce nanoscale microsphere materials primarily due to a lack of its own production equipment and processes. To address this, the company collaborated with the Shenzhen Advanced Materials Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, solving the global challenge of production processes and technical equipment, and successfully developing the country’s first set of equipment, breaking foreign monopolies and filling a domestic gap.
In Linshu, there are many silicon-based new materials companies like Jinwei that are tackling key technologies. Kehan Silicon Source Co. has independently developed high-purity nanosilica ranging from 3 to 200 nanometers and non-spherical chain-like nano-silica sol, which has disrupted international monopolies as a basic CMP polishing liquid for chip manufacturing.
In recent years, Linshu County has insisted on technological innovation as the core driving force for the development of its silicon-based new materials industry, encouraging companies to increase research and development investments, strengthen collaborations with universities and research institutes, and overcome critical core technologies to develop high-end products and seize market advantages.
Linshu County plans to prioritize the development of the silicon-based new materials industry as a key focus in the industrial sector, aiming for market opportunities in the midstream. It will concentrate on the blue ocean of the midstream market by attracting production enterprises for silicon nitride, organosilicon, and more, striving to enhance its competitive voice. It will also pursue downstream development by laying out a “roadmap” for high-quality development in the silicon-based new materials industry. Through technological breakthroughs, Linshu aims to reach the forefront of the industrial chain, accelerating the high-end, intelligent, and large-scale development of this industry, cultivating it as a new driving force for high-quality development in Linshu’s manufacturing sector.
