Silicon Wafers Area Shipments Decline 14.3% YoY in 2023
we expect Q124 revenues to be down ~20% QoQ and anticipate a further 5% YoY decline in full year 2024 shipments
Worldwide silicon wafer shipments in 2023 decreased 14.3% to 12,602 million square inches according to the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group. For the record, this compares to our forecast of a 10% YoY decline.
Wafer revenues also declined by 10.9% to $12.3 billion over the same period. This suggests that, despite the downturn in wafer demand, ASPs actually registered a modest increase. This comes as a direct result of pre-agreed price increases baked into the terms of many Long Term Agreements (LTAs).
Commenting on the results, Lee Chungwei, Chairman of the SEMI SMG noted that:
The decline, a sharp departure from the previous three years of consecutive growth, stemmed from a slowdown in end-demand, coupled with a broad-based inventory correction. Softening memory and logic sector demand led to a decline in orders for 12-inch wafers, while weakening foundry and analog uptake accounted for a drop in shipments of 8-inch wafers.
Shipments of 12-inch polished and epi wafers contracted 13% and 5% in 2023, respectively. Total shipments of all wafer sizes slipped 9% in the second half of 2023 relative to the first half of the year.”
We review the relative performance of the top 4 silicon wafer manufacturers, dig into the extraordinary levels of CapEx over the past two years and share our outlook for the current year, all after the paywall. Thanks as always for reading!
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