Silicon wafer shipments drop in Q1-09

SAN JOSE, USA: Worldwide silicon wafer area shipments declined sharply during the first quarter 2009 when compared to the fourth quarter 2008 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 940 million square inches during the most recent quarter, a 34 percent decrease from the 1,428 million square inches shipped during the previous quarter. The new quarterly total area shipments are 57 percent below first quarter 2008 shipments and at the lowest levels since 2001.

"Clearly, difficult global economic conditions continued to have an impact on wafer shipments in the first quarter of the year,” said Nobuo Katsuoka, chairman of SEMI SMG and director, SOI process Engineering Department for Shin-Etsu Handotai Co., Ltd. ”However, market conditions recovered after the bottom observed in the January and February period.”

Quarterly Silicon Area Shipment Trends
Semiconductor Silicon Shipments* -- Millions of Square Inches*Shipments are for semiconductor applications only and do not include solar applications
Source: SEMI

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.