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Here's your semiweekly Microelectronics Industry Info brought to you by Soka Tech.
A substantial recovery in the 300-milimetre silicon wafer market is expected from mid-year onward.
The softening of the supply and demand environment for 300-millimetre silicon wafers continues. While demand for leading-edge products remains robust, adjustments for mature logic continue, and memory adjustments, primarily NAND, have recently begun again. As a result, the recovery in shipment volume is extremely gradual, and a substantial recovery is likely postponed until the latter half of 2025.
In smaller-diameter wafers (200-milimetre and below), the rise of Chinese manufacturers is significant. Even in the 300mm market, their presence is growing, particularly in the dummy and monitor wafer segments, suggesting a changing competitive landscape.
SEMI's report for the October-December 2024 quarter shows silicon wafer shipments decreased by 1% quarter-over-quarter to 3.183 billion square inches. While year-on-year figures show recovery, a slight decline was observed compared to the July-September quarter. By diameter, 300mm wafers saw a slight decrease, 200mm wafers remained flat, and those 150mm and below experienced a decline of around 5%.
The 300mm market shows variation depending on the customer. For leading-edge logic, companies like TSMC maintain high fab utilization rates and strong purchasing. Conversely, Intel, facing continued poor performance, hasn't increased wafer input and is aggressively reducing inventory. Mature logic also suffers from low utilization rates, leading to volume adjustments from some wafer suppliers. Taiwan UMC's fab utilization rate for the October-December 2024 quarter was a low 70%, making the extent of inventory reduction and the subsequent recovery of wafer demand in the latter half of the year a key focus.
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