Analysis | May 16, 2018

1Q18 silicon wafer shipments increase QoQ to record levels

Reaching their highest recorded quarterly level ever, worldwide silicon wafer area shipments increased 3.6% over the forth quarter of 2017, says SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG).

Worldwide silicon wafer area shipments jumped to 3’084 million square inches during the first quarter 2018, a 3.6% increase over fourth quarter 2017 area shipments of 2’977 million square inches and a 7.9% rise over first quarter 2017 shipments, a press release reads. "Global silicon wafer shipment volumes started the year at historic levels,” said Neil Weaver, chairman SEMI SMG and Director, Product Development and Applications Engineering of Shin-Etsu Handotai America. “As a result, silicon shipments, like device shipments, are positioned to be strong this year.” Silicon* Area Shipment TrendsMillions of Square Inches


	1Q 2017	2Q 2017	3Q 2017	4Q 2017	1Q 2018
Total	2,858	2,975	2,997	2,997	3,084

*Semiconductor applications only