Annual silicon shipments continue to break records
Sales reached $10 billion for the first time since 2008

The SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) announced in its year-end survey that silicon wafer area shipments in 2018 reached 12.732 billion square inches (MSI), an 8% increase from 11.81 billion MSI in 2017, and revenue in 2018 reached $11.38 billion, an approximately 31% increase from $8.77 billion in 2017. Revenue in 2018 exceeded $10 billion for the first time since 2008.

Silicon wafers are a key material for semiconductor manufacturing and are therefore essential to virtually all electronic products, including computers, telecommunications products, and consumer electronics. These precisely engineered, thin, round discs are produced in diameters ranging from one inch to twelve inches and are used as the substrate material on which most semiconductor devices and chips are manufactured.
All data cited in this presentation includes polished silicon wafers, including virgin test wafers and epitaxial silicon wafers.

“This is the fifth consecutive year of record semiconductor silicon shipments,” said Neil Weaver, chairman of SEMI SMG and director of product development and applications engineering at Shin-Etsu Handotai America. “Demand continues to grow, but despite impressive 2018 sales, the market remains below its 2007 peak.”