Hemlock (Hemlock, Mich.), the world’s largest supplier of polysilicon, said that it plans to boost its site capacity in Michigan by 50 percent. The first part of the two-phase expansion project is expected to be completed in January of 2008, with a potential second phase concluding a year later.

The expansion is driven by increasing demand for polysilicon or polycrystalline, the key material used in the production of solar cells and silicon wafers, according to Hemlock, a joint venture between U.S.-based Dow Corning Corp. and Japan’s Shin-Etsu Handotai Co. Ltd. (SEH) and Mitsubishi Materials Corp.

The expansion plan is expected to generate more than 100-to-150 full-time jobs, and an equal number of contractor positions in the next three years. Additionally, there will be 400 temporary local contractor jobs created during construction of the expansion, said Donald Pfuehler, president and CEO of Hemlock, in a statement.

"Not only will we expand our ability to provide high quality products to solar and semiconductor industry customers, we'll also be creating a significant number of jobs and improve the economic activity in this region," he said in a statement.

Polysilicon has been a hot topic in recent times. Prices for polycrystalline materials earlier this year jumped by approximately 25 percent amid ongoing and severe shortages in the marketplace. The troubling supply and pricing trends for these materials could hamper the overall growth rates in the semiconductor and solar cell industries, according to analysts.

Leading polycrystalline or polysilicon vendors — ASiMI, Hemlock, MEMC, Mitsubishi Materials and Wacker — cannot keep up with huge OEM demand and are reportedly sold out of these materials for the next two to three years, according to industry sources (see May 20 story).

Advanced Silicon Materials LLC (ASiMi) will shortly end the sale of polysilicon materials for the silicon wafer industry — a move that could exacerbate the shortages of these products in the world market, warned an analyst (see Sept. 20 story).