Silicon wafer shipments to remain soft in 2024, says SEMI

Global shipments of silicon wafers are set to decline in 2024 before a strong rebound in 2025, according to industry organization SEMI.

Global shipments of silicon wafers are projected to decline 2 percent in 2024 to 12,174 million square inches (MSI) with 10 percent rebound in 2025 to reach 13,328 MSI as wafer demand continues to recover from the downcycle, SEMI reported today in its annual silicon shipment forecast.

The weakness in 2024 does not necessarily imply a contracting chip market as increases in average selling prices (ASPs) are likely to more than compensate.

Silicon wafer shipment growth is expected to continue through 2027 to meet increasing demand related to AI and advanced processing. This is set to increase manufacturing capacity utilization while applications in advanced packaging and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) production require additional wafers, contributing to the rising demand for wafers.

Process steps involving temporary or permanent carrier wafers, interposers, device separation into chiplets, and memory/logic array separation are all set to drive wafer demand.

The data cited in this release includes polished silicon wafers and epitaxial silicon wafers shipped by wafer manufacturers to end users. The data does not include non-polished or reclaimed wafers.