Global silicon wafer shipments and revenue both decline in 2024 due to slow inventory adjustments.

SEMI, an industry association representing the global electronics industry supply chain, announced on the 26th that global silicon wafer shipments in 2024 will decrease by 2.7% to 12.266 billion square inches, and sales will decrease by 6.5% to $11.5 billion.

In 2024, both wafer shipments and revenue declined slightly due to slow inventory adjustments.

On the other hand, wafer shipments are expected to begin to recover this year, and a particularly strong rebound is expected in the second half of the year.

“While generative AI and new data centers are driving demand for advanced foundry and memory semiconductors such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM), most other end-user markets are still recovering from excess inventory,” said Lee Chungwei, chairman of SEMI SMG (Silicon Manufacturers Group) and vice president and chief controller of GlobalWafers. “As noted in many of our customers’ earnings calls, the industrial semiconductor market is still in a strong inventory adjustment phase, which is impacting global silicon wafer shipments.”

Meanwhile, silicon wafers are a key material for semiconductor manufacturing, so they are used in computers, communication products, consumer electronics, etc. It is an essential component in virtually all electronic products.

Precision-machined silicon disks are produced in diameters ranging from one inch to twelve inches and are used as the substrate material on which most semiconductor chips are manufactured.