Marking the fourth consecutive quarterly decline, worldwide silicon wafer area shipments totaled 2,932 million square inches in the third quarter of 2019, down 1.7 percent from the 2,983 million square inches shipped in the second quarter of the year and 9.9 percent lower than shipments during the same period in 2018, according to the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) in its quarterly analysis of the silicon wafer industry.
“Global silicon wafer shipments continue to ship at lower volumes relative to last year’s record levels,” said Neil Weaver, chairman of SEMI SMG and vice president of Product Development and Applications Engineering at Shin Etsu Handotai America. “Ongoing geopolitical tensions and the overall economic slowdown have negatively impacted silicon demand for the year.”
Silicon Area Shipment Trends – Semiconductor Applications Only
| Millions of Square Inches | |||||||
| 1Q2018 | 2Q2018 | 3Q2018 | 4Q2018 | 1Q2019 | 2Q2019 | 3Q2019 | |
| Total | 3,084 | 3,160 | 3,255 | 3,234 | 3,051 | 2,983 | 2,932 |
Source: SEMI (www.semi.org), November 2019
All data cited in this release includes polished silicon wafers, such as virgin test wafers and epitaxial silicon wafers, as well as non-polished silicon wafers shipped to end users. Silicon wafers are the fundamental building material for semiconductors, which are vital components of virtually all electronics goods, including computers, telecommunications products, and consumer electronics. The highly engineered thin, round disks are produced in various diameters – from one inch to 12 inches – and serve as the substrate material on which most semiconductor devices, or chips, are fabricated.
The SMG is a sub-committee of the SEMI Electronic Materials Group (EMG) and is open to SEMI members involved in manufacturing polycrystalline silicon, monocrystalline silicon or silicon wafers (e.g., as cut, polished, epi, etc.). The purpose of the SMG is to facilitate collective efforts on issues related to the silicon industry including the development of market information and statistics about the silicon industry and the semiconductor market.