August 17, 2007 – Industry utilization rates inched up to just under 90% in 2Q07, largely driven by a bump in foundry output and particularly increased activity for trailing-edge technologies, according to data from the Semiconductor International Capacity Statistics (SICAS) group.
Actual output for ICs outpaced capacity additions for the second straight quarter, rising 7.7% sequentially to 1.78 million wafer starts/week, vs. a 5.0% increase in capacity to 1.99 million wafer starts/week. Utilization rates are up to 89.7%, vs. 87.5% in 1Q and 86.4% in 4Q06. Year-on-year, actual output rose about 12%, vs. a 13.9% rise in capacity.
Output was up generally across all process technologies in 2Q, but most notably for 0.16-0.2-micron nodes, which saw a 13% jump in weekly wafer starts vs. 1Q, and 0.2-0.3-micron, which saw a 10% increase. Production involving <120nm processes saw a 10.8% increase in both capacity and output, improving from ~6% increases in 1Q, to keep leading-edge utilization rates steady at ~93%.
Total MOS tracked similarly to ICs, with ~8% better actual output and ~5% extra capacity, for an even 90% utilization rate. The eye-opening statistic here is that foundries’ production, after declining more than 13% since 3Q06, raced back up 21.4% in 2Q to 278K wafer starts/week, pushing utilization rates from ~80% to nearly 93%.
Meanwhile, foundries only added 4.5% extra capacity during the quarter — supporting recent comments from industry watchers and suppliers that foundries haven’t bounced back with capacity investments as hoped, and are instead squeezing more productivity out of their existing toolsets.
TOTAL MOS
…………….1Q04……..2Q04……..3Q04……..4Q04……..1Q05……..2Q05……..3Q05……..4Q05……..1Q06……..2Q06……..3Q06……..4Q06……..1Q07……..2Q07
Capacity (WSPW x 1000)
…………..1265.3…..1297.0…..1345.3…..1363.4…..1403.9…..1427.6…..1482.9…..1538.2…..1611.0…..1660.4…..1723.3…..1799.8…..1811.8…..1906.9
% Q-Q……2.4…………2.5…………3.7…………1.3…………3.0…………1.7…………3.9…………3.7…………4.7…………3.1…………3.8…………4.4…………0.7…………5.2
% Y-Y……..10.6……..8.4………..9.5…………..10.3……..11.0…………10.1………..10.2………..12.8………..14.8………..16.3…………16.2…………17.0…………12.5…………14.8
Actual (WSPW x 1000)
…………..1190.0…..1240.6…..1249.6…..1179.0…..1201.6…..1278.1…..1345.7…..1424.3…..1453.5…..1524.7…..1534.7…..1568.6…..1589.7…..1715.3
% Q-Q………4.6…………4.3……….0.7…………-5.6………….1.9………..6.4…………5.3………….5.8…………2.1……….4.9………….0.7…………2.2…………1.3…………7.9
% Y-Y……..24.5……..20.0……….14.0………….3.6…………1.0…………3.0…………7.7………..20.8…….21.0……….19.3………14.0………..10.1…………9.4………12.5
Utilization
rate…..94.0…….95.7……..92.9…………86.5………..85.6……..89.5………90.7…………92.6……..90.2………91.8………89.1……….87.2……….87.7……….90.0
TOTAL ICs
…………….1Q04……..2Q04……..3Q04……..4Q04……..1Q05……..2Q05……..3Q05……..4Q05……..1Q06……..2Q06……..3Q06……..4Q06……..1Q07……..2Q07
Capacity (WSPW x 1000)
…………..1372.5……1405.8……1454.3……1466.4……1508.3……1529.9…..1580.1…..1634.7…..1702.8…..1744.4…..1808.0…..1883.7…..1892.0…..1987.3
% Q-Q………2.4………….2.4………….3.5………….0.8………….2.9………….1.4…………3.3………..3.5………….4.2…………2.4…………3.6…………4.2…………0.4………..5.0
% Y-Y……….9.8………….7.5…………..8.6…………9.4…………..9.9………….8.8…………8.7………11.5……….12.9………14.0……….14.4……….15.2……….11.1……..13.9
Actual (WSPW x 1000)
…………..1281.6……1340.9……1345.2……1260.9…..1279.6…..1362.5…..1424.0…..1500.4…..1524.6…..1591.2…..1600.3…..1628.3…..1654.7…..1781.9
% Q-Q………4.4………….4.6………….0.3…………-6.3…………1.5…………6.5…………4.5…………5.4…………1.6………..4.4…………0.6………….1.8………..1.6…………7.7
% Y-Y……..23.9………..19.3………..13.2………….2.7……….-0.2…………1.6…………5.9……….19.0……….19.1………16.8………12.4………….8.5…………8.5………12.0
Utilization
rate……93.4……..95.4………..92.5………..86.0………84.8……….89.1……….90.1………91.8……….89.5………91.2………88.5………..86.4……….87.5………89.7
WaferNEWS source: SICAS