Welcome! Sign in | Join free
Quote Call: +281-899-8096
Home > News > > 8 inch silicon chip shortage or will become the bottleneck of complete release of wafer capacity

News

8 inch silicon chip shortage or will become the bottleneck of complete release of wafer capacity

Tuesday,Aug 07,2018

 Wafers are the most basic raw materials for semiconductor products. Due to the irreplaceability of global fab capacity, the share of silicon wafers in wafer product costs is related to fab equipment depreciation. According to SEMI, the global wafer market in 2017 was approximately $7.58 billion, accounting for 29.8% of the wafer fabrication materials market.

 
The depreciation amount of different fabs has a greater impact on cost. Therefore, the proportion of silicon wafers in total cost is different under different depreciation ratios. UMC, the world's advanced, advanced semiconductors, and Huahong Semiconductor, for example, UMC and Huahong Due to the expansion of semiconductors in recent years, depreciation accounts for a relatively high total cost, and wafer cost has little impact on total cost. Advanced semiconductors and world advanced depreciation account for a relatively small total cost, so the total cost is on silicon wafers. The cost is more sensitive. Most 8-inch fabs have been depreciated, so 8-inch fabs are more sensitive to the price of silicon.
 
In terms of supply, the suppliers of silicon wafers mainly include Japan's Shin-Etsu, SUMCO, Taiwan's Global Wafer, Germany's Silitronic, and South Korea's SK Siltron. The top five manufacturers have a combined market share of over 90%. In addition, Taiwan's Hejing Technology and Ferrotec are also important suppliers of 8-inch silicon wafers. At the end of 2017, the global 8-inch wafer production capacity is about 5.4 M / wpm.
 
With the gradual increase in the utilization rate of the 8-inch wafer fab in the world, the amount of 8-inch wafers is gradually increasing, and the inventory level is gradually decreasing. More than one-third of the world's 8-inch silicon wafers are produced in Japan. According to METI data, the production and sales volume of 8-inch wafers in Japan continued to increase in early 2016, while the inventory level gradually declined, and the inventory ratio was 90 from the highest point. % dropped to 44% at the end of 2017. The continued increase in demand has stimulated the supply of 8-inch wafers in 2017Q1, and the price increase began from 2017H2. It is estimated that the price increase in 2017 will be about 3% (the price increase of 12-inch wafers is 37%). The 2018Q1 8-inch wafer continues to be in short supply and prices are rising by about 10%.
 
Under the double limit of the price increase and the expansion cycle, the tight situation of 8-inch silicon wafers cannot be effectively alleviated in the short term. Although the price of 8-inch wafers has increased by more than 10% since 2017, the current price of 8-inch wafers is still at a historical low level from a long-term perspective. From 2007 to now, the price of 8-inch wafers has dropped by about 40%. Most wafer factories The 8-inch silicon wafer products have been losing money for many years, so even if the price of 8-inch wafers rises, the silicon giant's willingness to expand is still small. In addition, the expansion period of silicon wafers is at least one year or more. Therefore, we believe that the short-term 8-inch silicon wafer shortage and price increase will continue. The shortage of silicon wafer capacity may become a limit to the release of downstream 8-inch wafer fab capacity. bottleneck.
 
At present, the main expansion of 8-inch silicon wafers is Hejing Technology, Ferrotec, and domestic Gritek (new research), JRH (Jinrui), AST (super silicon). The Zhengzhou Hejing Silicon Material Production Project started in July 2017. The first phase plans to produce 200,000 pieces of 8-inch wafers per month. It is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2018. In mid-2017, Global Wafer and Ferrotec announced a partnership, Ferrotec is responsible for the production of 8-inch silicon wafers, global wafer technology and quality assurance. The third phase of the plan will increase the monthly production capacity of 150,000 pieces of 8-inch silicon wafers in each phase. It is expected that the first phase of the end of 2017 will be certified and mass-produced. Therefore, it is expected that the global 8-inch wafer production capacity will increase by 0.35M/wpe in 2018, which is about 6% higher than that in 2017. The overall supply of silicon wafers is relatively tight.

Tags:

Comments

Name