Worldwide Silicon Wafer Shipments Dip 5% in Q1, SEMI Reports
MILPITAS, CA – Worldwide silicon wafer shipments decreased 5.4% quarter-over-quarter to 2.83 billion sq. in. in the first quarter, a 13.2% drop from the 3.27 million sq. in. recorded during the same quarter last year, the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group reported in its quarterly analysis of the silicon wafer industry.
"The continuing decline in IC fab utilization and inventory adjustment led to negative growth across all wafer sizes in Q1 2024, with polished wafer shipments falling slightly more year-over-year than EPI wafer shipments," said Lee Chungwei, chairman of SEMI SMG and vice president and chief auditor at GlobalWafers. "Notably, utilization by some fabs bottomed out in Q4 2023 as growing AI adoption fueled rising demand for advanced node logic products and memory for data centers."
Silicon Area Shipment Trends – Semiconductor Applications Only
| Millions of Square Inches | ||||||
| 4Q 2022 | 1Q 2023 | 2Q 2023 | 3Q 2023 | 4Q 2023 | 1Q 2024 | |
| Total | 3,589 | 3,265 | 3,331 | 3,010 | 2,996 | 2,834 |
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Source: SEMI (www.semi.org), May 2024 Data cited include polished silicon wafers, including those used as virgin test wafers, as well as epitaxial silicon wafers, and non-polished silicon wafers shippedby the wafer manufacturers to end users. |
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Silicon wafers are the fundamental building material for the majority of semiconductors, which are vital components of all electronic devices. The highly engineered thin disks are produced in diameters of up to 12 inches and serve as the substrate material on which most semiconductors are fabricated.
