Wacker Chemie may close its Charleston, Tennessee, polysilicon facility after the Trump administration’s trade measures drove away its two remaining customers. The German company is expected to decide in the coming weeks, putting about 600 jobs at risk at the $2.5 billion plant. The Section 232 measures impose a 15% tariff and establish price floors of $21 per kilogram for polysilicon and $100 for ingots and wafers, with the floors taking effect in December 2026. Because the rules apply uniformly to imported products regardless of whether they contain U.S. or Chinese polysilicon, they do not offset the domestic material’s cost disadvantage, with U.S. prices reaching up to four times those of foreign products, according to Bernreuter Research. Wacker says the current provisions cannot effectively support U.S.-made polysilicon and is negotiating with the administration. Hemlock Semiconductor, the only other U.S. producer, is more insulated because parent Corning buys its output and processes it into wafers domestically.