In the second half of 2024, worldwide silicon wafer demand started to recover from the industry downcycle seen in 2023, the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) reported in its year-end analysis of the silicon wafer industry. Worldwide silicon wafer shipments in 2024 decreased 2.7% to 12,266 million square inches while wafer revenue contracted 6.5% to $11.5 billion over the same period.
In 2024, a broad-based inventory correction was slower due to the weak end demand from the higher volume segments impacting fab utilization rates and wafer shipments to specific applications. The recovery is expected to continue into 2025 with stronger improvements toward the second half of the year.
“Generative AI and new data-center construction has been a driver for the most advanced foundry and memory devices such as High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), but most other end markets are still recovering from excess inventory,” said Lee Chungwei (李崇偉), Chairman of SEMI SMG and Vice President and Chief Auditor at GlobalWafers. “As noted by many customers in their earnings statements, the industrial semiconductor market is still in a strong inventory correction, and this has impacted silicon wafer shipments worldwide.”
Annual Silicon* Industry Trends
|
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
|
Area Shipments (MSI)
|
12,407 |
14,165 |
14,713 |
12,602 |
12,266 |
|
Revenues ($Billion)
|
11.2 |
12.6 |
13.8 |
12.3 |
11.5 |
|
Source: SEMI (www.semi.org), February 2025
*Data cited in this release include polished silicon wafers, including those used as virgin test wafers, as well as epitaxial silicon wafers, and non-polished silicon wafers shipped by the wafer manufacturers to end users. Shipments are for semiconductor applications only and do not include solar applications. |
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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, produced in diameters of up to 300 mm, 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). The SMG facilitates 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.
