The Marketing Minute: Staying Positive When the Market Isn’t
Marcy’s Musings: Continuing to Invent the Future With SEL
It’s Only Common Sense: Why Failure Is an Opportunity for Growth
Worldwide Silicon Wafer Shipments and Revenue Start Recovery in Late 2024
February 13, 2025 | SEMIEstimated reading time: 1 minute
In the second half of 2024, worldwide silicon wafer demand started to recover from the industry downcycle seen in 2023, the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) reported in its year-end analysis of the silicon wafer industry. Worldwide silicon wafer shipments in 2024 decreased 2.7% to 12,266 million square inches while wafer revenue contracted 6.5% to $11.5 billion over the same period.
168cc1876cbc48f8965c573012e1a93f.pngIn 2024, a broad-based inventory correction was slower due to the weak end demand from the higher volume segments impacting fab utilization rates and wafer shipments to specific applications. The recovery is expected to continue into 2025 with stronger improvements toward the second half of the year.
"Generative AI and new data-center construction has been a driver for the most advanced foundry and memory devices such as High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), but most other end markets are still recovering from excess inventory,” said Lee Chungwei (李崇偉), Chairman of SEMI SMG and Vice President and Chief Auditor at GlobalWafers. “As noted by many customers in their earnings statements, the industrial semiconductor market is still in a strong inventory correction, and this has impacted silicon wafer shipments worldwide.”
Silicon wafers are the fundamental building material for the majority of semiconductors, which are vital components of all electronic devices. The highly engineered thin disks, produced in diameters of up to 300 mm, serve as the substrate material on which most semiconductor devices, or chips, are fabricated.
The SMG is a sub-committee of the SEMI Electronic Materials Group (EMG) and is open to SEMI members involved in manufacturing polycrystalline silicon, monocrystalline silicon or silicon wafers (e.g., as cut, polished, epi). The SMG facilitates collective efforts on issues related to the silicon industry including the development of market information and statistics about the silicon industry and the semiconductor market.
Share on:
Testimonial
"We’re proud to call I-Connect007 a trusted partner. Their innovative approach and industry insight made our podcast collaboration a success by connecting us with the right audience and delivering real results."
Julia McCaffrey - NCAB GroupSuggested Items
MSU Leveraging Intel 16 and the Cadence Tool Flow for Academic Chip Tapeout
08/22/2025 | Cadence Design SystemsMorgan State University (MSU) recently received an Apple Innovation Grant, designed to support engineering schools as they develop their silicon and hardware technologies. The New Silicon Initiative (NSI) is designed to inspire and prepare students for careers in hardware engineering, computer architecture, and silicon chip design.
izmomicro Achieves Breakthrough in Silicon Photonics Packaging, Establishing India's Leadership in Advanced Semiconductor Integration
08/21/2025 | PRNewswireizmomicro, a specialized division of izmo Ltd., announced a major milestone in silicon photonics packaging, underscoring its role as a pioneer in India's semiconductor ecosystem and advancing the country's position in the global race toward next-generation data and AI infrastructure.
OKI Develops Tiling Crystal Film Bonding (CFB) Technology for Heterogeneous Integration of Optical Semiconductors onto 300 mm Silicon Wafers
08/15/2025 | BUSINESS WIREOKI has successfully developed Tiling crystal film bonding technology using its proprietary CFB technology. This technology makes possible the heterogeneous integration of small-diameter optical semiconductor wafers onto 300 mm silicon wafers, heretofore not possible due to wafer size restrictions, and will contribute to the advancement of rapidly growing photonics-electronics convergence technology.
iDEAL Signs Technology Partner Agreement for SuperQ MOSFETs with Power System Specialist Richardson Electronics, Ltd.
08/01/2025 | PR NewswireiDEAL Semiconductor, a fabless power semiconductor company focused on delivering breakthrough efficiencies, has announced it will partner with Power and RF specialist, Richardson Electronics.
Teramount Raises $50M to Address Growing Demand for AI Infrastructure Optical Connectivity
07/31/2025 | PRNewswireTeramount, the leader in scalable fiber-to-chip interconnect solutions for AI, data centers and advanced computing, today announced it has raised $50 million in financing led by new investor Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT). Existing investors Grove Ventures and several new strategic investors, including AMD Ventures, Hitachi Ventures, Samsung Catalyst Fund and Wistron, joined the round.