Silicon shipment levels decline in third quarter

Nov. 12, 2015

San Jose, CA. Worldwide silicon wafer area shipments decreased during the third quarter 2015 when compared to second-quarter area shipments, according to the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) in its quarterly analysis of the silicon wafer industry.

Total silicon wafer area shipments were 2,591 million square inches during the most recent quarter, a 4.1% decrease from the record amount of 2,702 million square inches shipped during the previous quarter. New quarterly total area shipments were flat when compared to third quarter 2014 shipments.

“After two consecutive record breaking quarters, quarterly silicon shipment growth slightly declined,” said Ginji Yada, chairman of SEMI SMG and general manager of the International Sales & Marketing Department of SUMCO Corp. “Quarterly shipments for the most recent quarter are on par with the same quarter as last year, with total silicon shipment volumes for 2015 through the end of the third quarter higher relative to the same period last year.”

 Quarterly Silicon* Area Shipment Trends

Million Square Inches

Q3-2014

Q2-2015

Q3-2015

9M-2014

9M-2015

Total

2,597

2,702

2,591

7,548

7,930

* Shipments are for semiconductor applications only and do not include solar applications

All data cited in this release is inclusive of polished silicon wafers, including virgin test wafers and epitaxial silicon wafers, as well as non-polished silicon wafers shipped by the wafer manufacturers to the end-users.

The Silicon Manufacturers Group acts as an independent special interest group within the SEMI structure and is open to SEMI members involved in manufacturing polycrystalline silicon, monocrystalline silicon, or silicon wafers (for example, as cut, polished, or epi). The purpose of the group 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.

www.semi.org

About the Author

Rick Nelson | Contributing Editor

Rick is currently Contributing Technical Editor. He was Executive Editor for EE in 2011-2018. Previously he served on several publications, including EDN and Vision Systems Design, and has received awards for signed editorials from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. He began as a design engineer at General Electric and Litton Industries and earned a BSEE degree from Penn State.

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