May 17, 2007 – Worldwide silicon wafer area shipments rose just 1.4% in 1Q07 to 2070 millions of sq. in. (MSI) in what is typically a slow year-opening period, but represents the third straight quarter of little or no growth in wafer shipments. Specific data for shipments for each type of silicon (polished, nonpolished, epi) were not provided by SEMI’s Silicon Manufacturers Group.

Volker Braetsch, chairman of SEMI’s SMG and VP of Siltronic AG, noted that 1Q is typically a slow seasonal quarter, and this year wafer shipments were compounded by inventory corrections. “Nevertheless the growth trend for 300mm wafers remained intact,” he said in a statement, adding that not surprisingly Asia made up for weaker silicon area growth in other regions.

Compared with a year ago, the 1Q07 wafer shipments were up 11.5%, representing the fifth straight Y-Y decline. Dan Tracy, SEMI’s senior director of industry research and statistics, pointed out that this pretty much tracks device unit shipment trends reported by the WSTS and wafer start data reported by SICAS, which both showed strong growth in the early part of 2006 slowing in the latter part of the year.

Looking ahead, Tracy told WaferNEWS he expects to see silicon shipments continue to trend in-line with the single-digit Y-Y growth projected for overall semiconductors.

Quarterly silicon area shipment trends
(Silicon shipments in millions of square inches [MSI])

Quarter……….Total…………..vs. Q-Q…………..vs. Y-Y

1Q00……………1274………………NA…………………NA
2Q00……………1373……………..7.8%……………….NA
3Q00……………1457……………..6.1%……………….NA
4Q00……………1448…………….-0.6%……………….NA
——————————————————————–
1Q01……………1250…………..-13.7%…………….-1.9%
2Q01…………….988……………-21.0%……………-28.0%
3Q01…………….824……………-16.6%……………-43.4%
4Q01…………….878………………6.6%…………….-39.4%
——————————————————————–
1Q02……………1011…………….15.1%……………-19.1%
2Q02……………1273…………….25.9%…………….28.8%
3Q02……………1263……………..-0.8%……………..53.3%
4Q02……………1134……………-10.2%…………….29.2%
——————————————————————–
1Q03……………1175……………..3.6%…………….16.2%
2Q03……………1273……………..8.3%………………0.0%
3Q03……………1307……………..2.7%………………3.5%
4Q03……………1392……………..6.5%…………….22.8%
——————————————————————–
1Q04……………1529……………..9.8%…………….30.1%
2Q04……………1619……………..5.9%…………….27.2%
3Q04……………1629……………..0.6%…………….24.6%
4Q04……………1486…………….-8.8%………………6.8%
——————————————————————–
1Q05……………1465…………….-1.4%……………..-4.2%
2Q05……………1606……………..9.6%……………..-0.8%
3Q05……………1748……………..8.8%………………7.3%
4Q05……………1826……………..4.5%…………….22.9%
——————————————————————–
1Q06……………1884……………..3.2%…………….28.6%
2Q06……………1966……………..4.4%…………….22.4%
3Q06……………2074……………..5.5%…………….18.6%
4Q06……………2070…………….-0.2%…………….13.4%
——————————————————————–
1Q07……………2100…………….1.4%………………11.5%

Source: SEMI