The Chemours Company provides performance chemicals that are key inputs in end-products and processes in a variety of industries.
The company delivers customized solutions with a wide range of industrial and specialty chemical products for markets, including refrigeration and air conditioning, paints and coatings, plastics, transportation, semiconductor and consumer electronics, general industrial, and oil and gas. The company’s principal products include refrigerants, titanium dioxide (‘TiO’)...
The Chemours Company provides performance chemicals that are key inputs in end-products and processes in a variety of industries.
The company delivers customized solutions with a wide range of industrial and specialty chemical products for markets, including refrigeration and air conditioning, paints and coatings, plastics, transportation, semiconductor and consumer electronics, general industrial, and oil and gas. The company’s principal products include refrigerants, titanium dioxide (‘TiO’) pigment and industrial fluoropolymer resins.
The company operates major production facilities located in eight countries and serves approximately 2,500 customers across a wide range of end-markets in approximately 110 countries. Many of the company’s commercial and industrial relationships span decades. The company’s customer base includes a diverse set of companies, many of which are leaders in their respective industries.
Strategy
The key elements of the company’s strategy are enabling growth; portfolio management; and strengthening the long term.
Segments
The company operates through three segments: Thermal & Specialized Solutions; Titanium Technologies; and Advanced Performance Materials.
Thermal & Specialized Solutions segment
This segment provides refrigerants, thermal management solutions, propellants, foam blowing agents, and specialty solvents. The company has an industry-leading safety culture and apply world-class R&D and technical expertise to ensure that its operations run safely and reliably, and to improve its process technology.
The company’s Thermal & Specialized Solutions segment has held a leading position in the fluorochemicals market since the commercial introduction of Freon. Since the original chlorofluorocarbons (‘CFC’)-based product was introduced, Thermal & Specialized Solutions has been at the forefront of new technology research for lower GWP and lesser ozone-depleting potential products, leading to the development of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (‘HCFC’) and hydrofluorocarbons (‘HFC’). The company has a leading position in HFC refrigerants under the brand name Freon, and it is a leader in the development of more sustainable technologies like Opteon, a line of low GWP hydrofluoroolefin (‘HFO’) refrigerants and specialty fluids, which also have a near-zero ozone-depletion footprint. Opteon was initially developed in response to the European Union’s (‘EU) Mobile Air Conditioning Directive. The company’s Opteon-branded portfolio of products is used in a broad range of applications, including automotive, air conditioning, commercial refrigeration, and foam blowing agents. This patented technology offers similar functionality to HFC products, and meets or betters mandated environmental standards and, in some cases, provides energy efficiency benefits.
The company’s Thermal & Specialized Solutions segment led the industry in the Montreal Protocol-driven transition from CFCs to the lesser ozone-depleting HCFCs and non-ozone-depleting HFCs and committed to cease production of CFCs. Thermal & Specialized Solutions began manufacturing non-ozone-depleting HFCs. Driven by the emerging megatrends of climate change, decarbonization, and energy efficiency, together with environmental legislation being enacted across the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and Japan, the company’s commercialized Opteon in 2016. In 2023, the company announced the initial commercialization of Opteon 2P50 which is targeted for the first half of 2026, pending appropriate regulatory approvals. Opteon 2P50 represents a critical step in positioning the company to meet a growing challenge brought on by a new era of data transmission driving a dramatic increase in demands for faster computing, AI capabilities, and other cutting-edge applications, all of which are based in technologies requiring elevated cooling capacities. The company will continue to invest in R&D in next generation refrigerants to drive long-term sustainable growth with low GWP solutions to meet the increasing regulatory requirements of the industry and the needs of its customers. Growth in the company’s Thermal & Specialized Solutions segment is supported in part by the adoption of the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act (‘AIM Act’) in the US and the EU’s Fluorinated-Gas (‘F-Gas’) Directive. In 2022, the company announced its plan to expand its Opteon YF capacity at its Corpus Christi, Texas facility by approximately 40% to help meet customer needs as they continue to transition to lower GWP refrigerants. Mechanical completion of this expansion plan was completed in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Competitors
The company’s key competitors for the Thermal & Specialized Solutions segment include Honeywell International, Inc., Arkema S.A., Orbia, and Daikin Industries, Ltd.
Sales, Marketing, and Distribution
With approximately 90 years of innovation and development in fluorine science, the company’s technical, marketing, and sales teams around the world have deep expertise in its products and their end-uses. The company works with customers to select the appropriate solutions to meet their technical performance needs. The company sells its products through direct channels and through resellers. Sales agreements vary by product line and markets served and include both spot-pricing arrangements and multi-year contracts with varying durations.
The company’s Thermal & Specialized Solutions segment maintains a large fleet of railcars, tank trucks, and containers to deliver its products and support its supply chain needs.
Customers
The company’s Thermal & Specialized Solutions segment serves approximately 900 customers and distributors globally, and, in many instances, these commercial relationships have been in place for decades.
Seasonality
Thermal & Specialized Solutions’ refrigerant sales fluctuate by season, as sales in the first half of the year are generally higher than sales in the second half of the year due to increased demand in the northern hemisphere for residential, commercial, and automotive air conditioning in the spring, which peaks in the summer months, and then declines in the fall and winter. Mobile air conditioning demand is slightly higher in the first half of the year due to the timing of automotive production shutdowns in the second half of the year.
Titanium Technologies segment
This segment operates as a manufacturer of high-quality TiO pigment. This premium white pigment is used to deliver whiteness, brightness, opacity, durability, efficiency, and protection in applications, including architectural and industrial coatings, flexible and rigid plastic packaging, polyvinylchloride (‘PVC’), laminate papers used for furniture and building materials, coated paper, and coated paperboard used for packaging. The company sell its TiO pigment under the Ti-Pure brand name. The company operates three TiO pigment production facilities: two in the U.S. and one in Mexico. In total, the company have a TiO pigment nameplate capacity of approximately 1.1 million metric tons per year. In addition, the company’s network includes a large-scale repackaging and distribution facility in Belgium. The company also operates mineral sands mining and/or separation operations in Starke, Florida, Nahunta, Georgia, Jesup, Georgia and Offerman, Georgia.
The company is one of a limited number of manufacturers operating a chloride process to produce TiO pigment. The company’s proprietary chloride technology enables it to design and operate plants at a much higher capacity than other chloride technology-based TiO pigment producers, uniquely utilize a broad spectrum of titanium-bearing ore feedstocks and deliver industry-leading batch-to-batch consistency.
The company sells over 20 different grades of TiO pigment, with each grade tailored for targeted applications. The company’s full portfolio of premium performance TiO pigment grades provide end-users with benefits beyond opacity, such as brighter colors, increased product durability and lifespan, improved efficiency for direct and downstream customers, and the brilliant whites achievable only through chloride-manufactured pigment.
The company has operated a titanium mine in Starke, Florida. The company is a major supplier of high-quality calcined zircon in North America, primarily focused on the precision investment casting industry, foundry, specialty applications, and ceramics. The company’s staurolite blasting abrasives are used in a variety of surface preparation applications, including steel preparation and maintenance and paint removal. The company is the only domestic producer of monazite, a key feed source of rare earth minerals. The company monazites are processed in the U.S., and the rare earth oxides extracted from the monazite are used in clean energy applications, such as permanent magnets for wind generation and electric vehicle batteries.
Competitors
The company’s major competitors within premium performance pigment include Tronox Holdings plc, LB Group Co. Ltd., Venator Materials plc, Kronos Worldwide, Inc., and INEOS AG.
Sales, Marketing, and Distribution
The company sells the majority of its products through a direct sales force. The company continues to build on its commercial strategy to optimize its performance through TiO market cycles while remaining closely connected to its customer needs. The company’s strategy establishes a commercial framework that allows it to focus on enhancing durable, value-oriented customer relationships, while providing customers access to a predictable and reliable supply of high-quality TiO. Customers can purchase Ti-Pure TiO either through medium- to long-term contracts or through Ti-Pure Flex. Launched in 2019, Ti-Pure Flex is an innovative channel that provides customers the unique ability to purchase Ti-Pure TiO via the company’s web-based portal, the first of its kind in the industry. To further expand the company’s reach beyond these sales channels, it also utilizes third-party sales agents and distributors.
The company’s sales organization works to develop and maintain close relationships with key decision makers in its value chain. In addition to close purchasing relationships, its sales and technical service teams work together to develop relationships with all layers of its customers’ organizations to ensure that it meets its customers’ commercial and technical requirements. When appropriate, the company collaborates closely with customers to solve formulation or application problems by modifying product characteristics or developing new product grades.
To ensure efficient distribution, the company has a large fleet of railcars, which are predominantly used for outbound distribution of products in the U.S. and Canada. A dedicated logistics team, along with external partners, continually optimizes the assignment of the company’s transportation equipment for each product line and geographic region to maximize utilization and maintain an efficient supply chain.
Customers
Globally, the company serves approximately 500 customers through its Titanium Technologies segment. In 2024, the company’s 10 largest Titanium Technologies customers accounted for approximately 41% of the segment’s net sales, and one Titanium Technologies customer represented over 10% of the segment’s net sales. The company’s larger customers are typically served through direct sales and tend to have medium-term to long-term contracts. The company serves its small-size and mid-size customers through a combination of its direct sales and distribution network. The company’s direct customers in the Titanium Technologies segment are producers of decorative coatings, automotive and industrial coatings, polyolefin master batches, PVC, engineering polymers, laminate paper, coatings paper, and coated paperboard. The company focuses on developing long-term partnerships with key market participants in each of these sectors. The company also delivers a high level of technical service to satisfy its customers’ specific needs, which helps it maintains strong customer relationships.
Seasonality
The demand for TiO pigment is subject to seasonality due to the influence of weather conditions and holiday seasons on some of its applications, such as decorative coatings. As a result, the company’s TiO pigment sales volume is typically highest in the second and third quarters (for the year ended December 31, 2024). This pattern applies to the entire TiO pigment market, but may vary by region, country, or application. The impacts of seasonality on demand for TiO pigment may also be altered by economic factors, such as changes in global GDP, global supply chain and logistics issues, and other factors.
Advanced Performance Materials segment
This segment draws on vast experience in fluoropolymer chemistry as a provider of performance solutions and advanced materials that solve challenging problems in emerging technologies and deliver unique capabilities in products and applications that people around the world use every day. The segment's diversified portfolio includes various specialty product solutions, membranes, industrial resins, and coatings. These product offerings position the business to serve a broad range of markets, including consumer electronics, semiconductors, digital communications, transportation, energy, oil and gas, and medical, among others.
The company’s products set the standard in a number of performance categories, including chemical inertness, thermal stability, low friction, weather and corrosion resistance, and di-electric properties. These performance advantages make its polymers a material of choice, especially in complex applications and extreme environmental conditions. The company’s performance solutions portfolio includes differentiated offerings, such as those that are critical to many emerging technology areas, including hydrogen production and fuel cells, emerging battery technologies, advanced semi-conductor infrastructure, 5G data delivery, and connected electronic devices. The company’s advanced materials portfolio provides products which are essential to established technologies across a diverse range of markets and applications, including consumer goods, transportation, and chemical processing.
The company’s Advanced Performance Materials products are sold under the brand names Teflon, Viton, Krytox, and Nafion. Teflon coatings, resins, additives, and films serve as the key underpinning for a variety of industrial and commercial applications, including semiconductor infrastructure. Viton fluoroelastomers are used in automotive, consumer electronics, chemical processing, oil and gas, petroleum refining and transportation, and aircraft and aerospace applications. The company’s Krytox-branded lubricants are used in a broad range of industrial applications, including bearings, automotive friction management, and electric motors. Nafion membranes are critical components in chlor-alkali processing and flow batteries, as well as the hydrogen electrolyzers and fuel cells which underpin the hydrogen economy. In 2023, the company launched operations at THE Mobility F.C. Membranes Company as a part of Chemours’ joint venture with BWT FUMATECH Mobility GmbH to elevate and accelerate the capacity to manufacture fuel cell and humidifier membranes for mobility applications for long-term customers.
The company’s Advanced Performance Materials segment is focused on technology development in its key markets. The company also participates in a broad array of industry consortia and collaborate with leading academics across a variety of disciplines to drive fundamental R&D in the materials space.
The segment is well positioned to capture future growth through the combination of the company’s unique product capabilities and market-driven product development process. Advanced Performance Materials will benefit long-term from secular growth in clean energy and advanced electronics.
Competitors
The company’s key competitors for this segment include Daikin Industries, Ltd., 3M Company, Syensqo, S.A., AGC Inc., and Dongyue Group Co., Ltd.
Sales, Marketing, and Distribution
With approximately 90 years of innovation and development in fluorine science, the company’s technical, marketing, and sales teams around the world have deep expertise in its products and their end-uses. The company works with customers to select the appropriate fluoropolymers or other advanced performance materials to meet their technical performance needs based on their intended performance-in-use requirements. The company sells its products through direct and indirect channels, and the duration of its selling agreements vary by product line and markets served.
The company’s Advanced Performance Materials segment maintains a limited fleet of railcars, tank trucks, containers, and totes to deliver its products and support its supply chain needs. The company manages its fleet to ensure it is appropriately sized to meet market demand while maintaining flexibility.
Customers
The company’s Advanced Performance Materials segment serves approximately 1,000 customers and distributors globally and, in many instances, these commercial relationships have been in place for decades.
Seasonality
The Advanced Performance Materials segment has historically seen some seasonal effects with lower sales in the fourth quarter (the year ended December 31, 2024), with planned maintenance activities at the company’s own sites and at certain customers typically occurring during this period.
Intellectual Property
As of December 31, 2024, the company owned approximately 4,050 granted patents and 1,420 pending applications in the U.S. and internationally, as well as approximately 1,680 trademark registrations and 24 pending trademark applications in the U.S. and internationally.
With respect to the company’s Opteon refrigerants it has composition patents covering R-1234yf having expiration dates through the end of the decade, and patents covering other aspects of itw Opteon refrigerants including blend compositions containing R-1234yf, methods of making R-1234yf, and applications having varying expiration dates at least into the mid-2030s. The company considers its Opteon and Freon trademarks used in the Thermal & Specialized Solutions segment to be valuable assets.
The company’s Titanium Technologies segment relies upon proprietary knowledge, continuing technological innovation, and trade secrets to develop and maintain its competitive position in this sector. Within the company’s Titanium Technologies segment’s intellectual property portfolio, it considers its Ti-Pure trademark to be a valuable asset. The company has registered the Ti-Pure TM trademark in a number of countries.
The company holds patents relating to manufacturing for certain products with high quality, specifications and purity as required by the electronics, communications, automotive, wire and cable, battery, fuel cell, water electrolysis, and other industries. Additionally, the company’s Advanced Performance Materials segment is a leader in and holds patents relating to non-fluorinated materials for use as durable water repellents for garments and other uses. In the company’s Advanced Performance Materials segment’s intellectual property portfolio, it considers its Teflon, Viton, Nafion, and Krytox trademarks to be valuable assets.
Environmental and Regulatory Matters
In the company’s Thermal & Specialized Solutions segment, global regulations driving the phase-down of HFCs, including the EU’s F-Gas Directive, the EU’s Mobile Air Conditioning Directive, and the AIM Act in the U.S., promote the adoption and sale of its high performing Opteon products, which have lower global warming potential (‘GWP’) and near-zero ozone-depletion footprint.
The company is a proponent of the AIM Act, that went into effect in 2022 and has begun the national phase-down of hydrofluorocarbons.
Research and Development
The company’s research and development (R&D) expense was relatively flat at $109 million for the year ended December 31, 2024.
History
The company was founded in the state of Delaware in 2014. The company was incorporated in 2014. It was formerly known as Performance Operations, LLC and changed its name to The Chemours Company in 2014.
