LONDON – Silicon wafer revenues for shipments from suppliers to fabs increased by 43.0 percent in 2010 to approach $10.19 billion and will grow by 5.9 percent in 2011, according to industry association SEMI.

The fact that semiconductor IC revenue increased by 31.8 percent in 2010 to $298.31 billion suggests that either there was some building of circuits for inventory and some attrition of the average selling price for ICs.

Growth was strong for all wafer diameters. Both 150- and 200-mm wafer shipments increased by rates comparable to 300-mm wafer shipments last year. Overall, 6 percent wafer shipment growth is currently estimated for 2011, with 300-mm shipments likely growing in the range of 11 to 13 percent. Both 150- and 200-mm should see slower growth, with increases in the 2 to 3 percent range forecasted.



Revenues for materials – shown in the table – increased by 29 percent in 2010 with silicon wafer revenues increasing by 43 percent. The segment is forecasted to rise 5.9 percent to reach $10.79 billion in 2011. Photoresists and related ancillary chemicals needed for lithographic processing grew to $2.45 billion last year and are forecast to grow to over $2.5 billion. The CMP material market is expected to increase by 9 percent in 2011 to reach almost $1.3 billion. The outlook of 5.5 percent revenue growth for total fab materials is in-line with current expectations of modest single-digit growth for the semiconductor industry in 2011.




Source: SEMI