Building for the future: Borealis and Borouge expand global XLPE and SEMICON capacity to enable the energy transition

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As the global shift to renewable energy accelerates, electricity grid infrastructure needs to keep pace. Borealis and Borouge are responding with a significant expansion of their global capacity for cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) and semiconductive (semicon) compounds supporting customers to deliver the power cables essential to distribution and transmission grids.

By the end of 2027, the two companies will have doubled their ability to serve the most demanding cable applications, including innovative solutions for 220 kV subsea, extra-high voltage alternating current (EHVAC), and high-voltage direct current (HVDC) systems. Within five years, they will have increased XLPE and semicon production capacity at a rate twice as fast as the projected growth in global demand for power cables.

This expansion program is a direct expression of Borealis and Borouge’s “Building for the Future.


commitment. By 2040, solar and wind are expected to account for more than half of global electrical capacity, with offshore wind playing a major role. This shift is essential to decarbonizing electricity generation and achieving long-term sustainability in the global energy system.

HVDC technology will be essential to transmitting this energy efficiently over longer distances—especially as the increasing size of turbines pushes developments farther offshore into deeper waters. With global demand for HVDC cables expected to exceed 50,000 km by 2030, there is a pressing need to scale up the availability of high-performance cable systems. Borealis is helping to meet this need by providing customers with the advanced polyolefins used in the insulation and semiconductive layers of power cables that form the backbone of these grids.


Progress is already underway on two major asset investment projects. In Europe, a key milestone has been reached with the completion of a major upgrade to semicon compounding assets in Antwerp, Belgium—part of a EUR 200 million investment program that also covers Borealis’ XLPE operations in Stenungsund, Sweden. Alongside increased capacity, Borealis is enhancing its quality assurance processes to further eliminate risks and better serve these sensitive applications—so customers can execute critical projects with confidence.


In the Middle East, a 100,000-metric-ton capacity expansion at the XLPE 2 unit at the Borouge 4 facility in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, is on track for completion by the end of 2025. Originally announced in 2024 as a co-investment between Borealis and ADNOC, the project will produce XLPE compounds using Borealis’ proprietary Borlink™ technology to meet rising demand across Asia and the Middle East.


source: Borealis

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