About Cabot

Cabot Corporation operates as a global specialty chemicals and performance materials company. The company's principal products are reinforcing and specialty carbons, specialty compounds, conductive additives, carbon nanotubes, fumed metal oxides, inkjet colorants, and aerogels. The company and its affiliates have manufacturing facilities and operations in the United States (U.S.) and over 20 other countries. Segments The company operates in two segments, Reinforcement Materials and Performance Chemicals. Reinforcement Materials segment Products The company's reinforcing carbons products are used in tires and industrial products. In addition to the company's reinforcing carbons, it manufactures engineered elastomer composites (E2C) solutions that are composites of reinforcing carbons and rubber made using its patented elastomer composites manufacturing process. These composites improve abrasion/wear resistance, reduce fatigue of rubber parts and reduce rolling resistance compared to reinforcing carbons/rubber compounds made entirely by conventional rubber mix methods enabling rubber product manufacturers to reduce the need to make performance trade-offs. The use of E2C solutions enable the company's customers to produce better performing tires, including giant off-the-road tires and on-road commercial tires, as well as other rubber products used in aggressive applications. E2C is one of the company's focus areas for growth, which it refers to as growth vectors. In fiscal 2023 (the year ended September 30, 2023), the company launched EVOLVE Sustainable Solutions, its technology platform focuses on developing sustainable reinforcing carbons and other performance materials with reliable performance at industrial scale. Sales and Customers Sales of reinforcing carbons and E2C solutions are made primarily by the company employees and secondarily through distributors and sales representatives. The company typically 'make and sell' in region, which, among other advantages, provides its customers a regional supply chain. Under appropriate circumstances, the company has entered into supply arrangements with certain customers, the typical duration of which is one year. In fiscal 2023, approximately two-thirds of the company's reinforcing carbons volume was sold under these supply arrangements. The majority of the volumes sold under these arrangements are sold to customers in the Americas and Europe. The company licensed its patented elastomer composites manufacturing process to Manufacture Francaise des Pneumatiques Michelin for their exclusive use in tire applications through fiscal 2017, and for a period of limited exclusivity in tire applications through fiscal 2019. As consideration, the company received quarterly royalty payments extending through calendar year 2022. Operations The company owns, or has a controlling interest in, and operates plants that produce reinforcing carbons in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, France, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands and the U.S. An equity affiliate operates a reinforcing carbons plant in Venezuela. In addition, the company has a 98% ownership interest in an entity that manufactures its E2C products in Port Dickson, Malaysia. Performance Chemicals segment In Performance Chemicals, the company designs, manufactures, and sells materials that deliver performance in a broad range of customer applications across the automotive, construction, infrastructure, inkjet printing, electronics, and consumer products sectors and in applications related to the generation, transmission and storage of energy. In this segment the company combines its specialty carbons, specialty compounds, battery materials, fumed metal oxides, aerogel, and inkjet product lines. The company's focus areas for growth, which it refers to as growth vectors, include conductive additives and other materials for battery applications, and inkjet dispersions for post print corrugated packaging applications. Products The company's specialty carbons are used to impart color, provide rheology control, enhance conductivity and static charge control, provide UV protection, enhance mechanical properties, and provide formulation flexibility through surface treatment. These specialty carbon products are used in a wide variety of applications, such as plastics, which applications represent the largest use for its products, inks, coatings, adhesives, toners, batteries, and displays. The company's masterbatch and conductive compound products, which it refers to as specialty compounds, are formulations derived from specialty carbons mixed with polymers and other additives. These products are generally used by plastic resin producers and converters in applications for the automotive, industrial, packaging, infrastructure, agriculture, consumer products, and electronics industries. In addition, the company's electrically conductive compound products generally are used to help ensure uniform conductive performance and reduce risks associated with electrostatic discharge in plastics applications. The company's battery materials products include its conductive additives and fumed alumina, which are used principally in advanced lead acid and lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles. The company's conductive additives consist of conductive carbons, carbon nanotubes and carbon nano structures, and blends of these materials, each of which offers different levels of conductivity and formulation flexibility for battery manufacturers to address performance (energy density, fast charging), cost and safety. In lithium-ion batteries, the company's conductive additives are used in both cathode and anode applications to increase energy density by providing a conductive network between active materials. Fumed alumina is used to reduce cathode material and electrolyte decomposition and improve capacity retention leading to longer battery cycle life. Fumed silica is an ultra-fine, high-purity particle used as a reinforcing, thickening, abrasive, thixotropic, suspending or anti-caking agent in a wide variety of products for the automotive, construction, microelectronics, batteries, and consumer products industries. These products include adhesives, sealants, cosmetics, batteries, inks, toners, silicone elastomers, coatings, polishing slurries and pharmaceuticals. In addition to the company's battery application, fumed alumina, also an ultra-fine, high-purity particle, is used as an abrasive, absorbent or barrier agent in a variety of products, such as inkjet media, lighting, coatings, cosmetics and polishing slurries. Aerogel is a hydrophobic, silica-based particle with a high surface area that is used in a variety of thermal insulation and specialty chemical applications. In the building and construction industry, the product is used in insulative sprayable plasters and composite building products, as well as translucent skylight, window, wall and roof systems for insulating eco-daylighting applications. In the specialty chemicals industry, the product is used to provide matte finishing, insulating and thickening properties for use in a variety of applications, including thermal management for lithium-ion batteries. The company's inkjet colorants are high-quality pigment-based black and color dispersions and inks. The company's dispersions are based on patented pigment surface modification technology and polymer encapsulation technology. The dispersions are used in aqueous inkjet inks to impart color, sharp print characteristics and durability, while maintaining high printhead reliability. These products are used in various inkjet printing applications, including traditional work-from-home and corporate office settings, and, increasingly, in commercial and corrugated packaging printing, that all require a high level of dispersibility and colloidal stability. The company's inkjet inks, which utilize its pigment-based colorant dispersions, are used in the commercial printing segment for graphic arts. Sales and Customers The company's specialty carbons products have a wide variety of end-uses. The sales of these products are made by its employees and through distributors and sales representatives. In its specialty carbons and specialty compounds product lines, sales are generally to a broad number of customers. In the company's fumed metal oxides product line, sales under contracts with six customers account for approximately one-third of the revenue. In the company's battery materials product line, the company has made commercial sales to six of eight leading global battery producers, with new product programs under discussion at all eight. Sales of these products are made by the company employees and through distributors and sales representatives. In the company's specialty carbons and specialty compounds product lines, sales are generally to a broad number of customers. In the company's fumed metal oxides product line, sales under contracts with five customers account for approximately one-third of the revenue. In the company's battery materials product line, sales to three customers account for approximately 50% of revenue. Operations The company owns, or has a controlling interest in, and operates plants that produce specialty carbons primarily in China, the Netherlands and the U.S. The company produces its conductive additives in China, and at its specialty carbon plants in the U.S. and in the Netherlands. The company also owns, or has a controlling interest in, manufacturing plants that produce fumed metal oxides in China, Germany, the United Kingdom (U.K.), and the U.S. and a manufacturing plant that produces aerogel in Frankfurt, Germany. An equity affiliate operates a fumed metal oxides plant in India. The company's specialty compounds are predominately produced in facilities that it owns, or has a controlling interest in, located in Belgium, Canada, China, and the United Arab Emirates. The company's inkjet colorants and inks are manufactured at its facility in the U.S. Four of the company's reinforcing carbons/specialty carbons manufacturing sites have energy centers. Research and Development For the year ended September 30, 2023, the company's research and development expenses were approximately $57 million. Safety, Health, Environment and Sustainability The company's products are subject to the chemical control laws and regulatory requirements of the countries in which they are manufactured or imported and distributed commercially. These laws include the regulation of chemical substances and inventories under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in the U.S.; and the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACh) in the European Union. The company has been named as a potentially responsible party under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (the 'Superfund law') and comparable state statutes with respect to several sites primarily associated with its divested businesses. In Europe, the company's four carbon black facilities are subject to the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. History Cabot Corporation was founded in 1882. The company was incorporated in the state of Delaware in 1960.