Worldwide silicon wafer area shipments increased during the second quarter 2015 when compared to first 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 2,702 million square inches during the most recent quarter, a 2.5 percent increase from the 2,637 million square inches shipped during the previous quarter resulting in a new quarterly volume shipment record. New quarterly total area shipments are 4.4 percent higher than second quarter 2014 shipments. First half 2015 shipments are 7.8 percent higher than the first half of 2014.
“For two consecutive quarters, strong silicon shipment growth has been recorded by the Silicon Manufacturers Group,” said Ginji Yada, chairman of SEMI SMG and general manager, International Sales & Marketing Department of SUMCO Corporation. “Continued growth off of the record level shipped in the first quarter, produced another record level of shipments in the most recent quarter.”
Quarterly Silicon* Area Shipment Trends
| Million Square Inches
|
|||||
| Q2-2014
|
Q1-2015 | Q2-2015 | 1H-2014 | 1H-2015 | |
| Total
|
2,587 | 2,637 | 2,702 | 4,951 | 5,339 |
*Shipments are for semiconductor applications only and do not include solar applications
Silicon wafers are the fundamental building material for semiconductors, which in turn, are vital components of virtually all electronics goods, including computers, telecommunications products, and consumer electronics. The highly engineered thin round disks are produced in various diameters (from one inch to 12 inches) and serve as the substrate material on which most semiconductor devices or “chips” are fabricated.
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 (e.g., as cut, polished, epi, etc.). 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. For more information on SEMI, visit www.semi.org.
It is great to see the area of wafers sold increasing. But why square inches? This is the 21st century and time to go metric. Since the area is large, can SEMI.org and others start publishing this worldwide in square meters. Also, I think near zero 12 inch wafers are sold. They would be rejected by those that buy millions of 300 mm diameter wafers. Check the SEMI 300 mm wafer standards. 3 inch wafers exist, but not many 4″, since at that point, a long time ago, they started making 100 mm wafers, then 125, 150, 200, 300 millimeters!