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

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.

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.

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