February 13, 2007 – Wafer demand surged in 2006 after moderate single-digit growth in 2005, with both revenues and shipments up >20% due in large part to memory investments and growing adoption of 300mm processing, according to new data from SEMI.

Silicon wafer area shipments totaled 7996 million square inches (MSI), a 20.3% increase from last year, when shipments rose just 6.1%, thanks to an increasing mix of 300mm wafer products. Revenues also achieved double-digit growth (26.7% to $10.0 billion), following just 8.2% growth in 2005. The final 2006 results suggest that 4Q06 wafer shipments were essentially flat from 3Q, recording 2072 MSI.

“2006 was a very robust growth year for the silicon wafer suppliers in terms of both units and revenue,” driven in large party by increased demand for memory products utilizing both 300mm and 200mm leading-edge wafer technologies, stated Volker Braetsch, chairman of SEMI’s Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) and VP of Siltronic AG.

The data covers polished silicon wafers, including virgin test wafers, epitaxial silicon wafers, and nonpolished silicon wafers shipped by wafer manufacturers to end-users.

Annual silicon area shipment trends

Worldwide silicon data
……2001………….2002………………2003………………2004………………2005………………2006
Area shipments (MSI)
…..3940……4681 (18.8%)…..5149 (10.0%)…..6262 (21.6%)…..6645 (6.1%)…..7996 (20.3%)
Revenues (US $B)
……….5.2………5.5 (5.8%)……..5.8 (5.5%)…….7.3 (25.9%)…….7.9 (8.2%)……10.0 (26.7%)

Source: SEMI