Milpitas, CA. Worldwide silicon wafer-area shipments in 2017 increased by 10% against 2016 shipments, while worldwide silicon revenues rose by 21% over 2016 levels, reported the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) in its year-end analysis of the silicon wafer industry.
Silicon wafer area shipments in 2017 totaled 11,810 million square inches (MSI), up from the previous market high of 10,738 million square inches shipped during 2016. Revenues totaled $8.71 billion, 21% higher from the $7.21 billion posted in 2016.
“Annual semiconductor silicon volume shipments reached record levels for the fourth year in a row,” said Neil Weaver, chairman of SEMI SMG, and director, product development and applications engineering, at Shin-Etsu Handotai America. “Annual silicon revenue also increased last year but remains well below the market high set 10 years ago.”
Annual Silicon* Industry Trends
|
2007
|
2008
|
2009
|
2010
|
2011
|
2012
|
2013
|
2014
|
2015
|
2016
|
2017
|
|
|
Area Shipments (MSI)
|
8,661
|
8,137
|
6,707
|
9,370
|
9,043
|
9,031
|
9,067
|
10,098
|
10,434
|
10,738
|
11,810
|
|
Revenues ($B)
|
12.1
|
11.4
|
6.7
|
9.7
|
9.9
|
8.7
|
7.5
|
7.6
|
7.2
|
7.2
|
8.7
|
*Total Electronic Grade Silicon Slices Excluding Non-Polished Wafers. Shipments are for semiconductor applications only and do not include solar applications.
Source: SEMI (www.semi.org), February 2018
All data cited in this release includes polished silicon wafers, such as virgin test wafers and epitaxial silicon wafers, as well as nonpolished silicon wafers shipped to end users.