Dow Corning

Dow Corning Corp.

Type	Joint venture
Industry	Manufacturing
Founded	1943
Headquarters	Midland, Michigan
Key people	Mauro Gregorio, CEO & President
Products	Speciality chemicals, silicon derived polymers
Revenue	$6.12 billion (2012)
Number of employees	12,000
Parent	Dow Chemical Company
Website	www.dowcorning.com

Dow Corning is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. Originally established as a joint venture between the Dow Chemical Company and Corning Incorporated, it specializes in silicone and silicon-based technology, and is the largest silicone product producer in the world.

Dow Corning was formally established in 1943 as a joint venture between the American conglomerates Dow Chemical and Corning Glass to explore the potential of silicone and was a manufacturer of products for use by the U.S. military in World War II. The company began operating its first plant, in Midland, MI, in 1945. Dr. E. C. Sullivan was named president, and Dr. William R. Collings was named general manager in 1943. Dr. Collings later became president from 1954 until 1962. It expanded into Canada and Europe in 1948, and into South America and Japan in 1961.

A large, majority-owned subsidiary of Dow Corning Corporation is the Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation. It is one of the world's largest producers of high-purity polycrystalline silicon, which is sold in varying purity grades for use in both semiconductor silicon wafer manufacture and photovoltaics applications as solar cells.

In 2002, the company created the Xiameter brand as an online-only distributor. As of 2011, Xiameter offers 2,100 of Dow Corning’s 7,000 products

On November 13, 2014, Dow Chemical's CEO Andrew N. Liveris revealed in a presentation to investors that Corning Incorporated intended to exit the joint venture of 71 years, citing other priorities. Following the December 11, 2015 announcement that it would merge with DuPont, Dow also announced that it had reached a deal to acquire Corning's stake in Dow Corning in exchange for $4.8 billion in cash and Corning gaining a roughly 40% stake in Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation. Dow Chemical assumed full ownership of Dow Corning on June 1, 2016.