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SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group Reports Third Quarter 2004 Silicon Wafer Area Shipments

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 November 2004, 21:00 CST

SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Worldwide silicon wafer area shipments in the third quarter increased one percent sequentially and 25 percent from the third quarter 2003 according to the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) in its quarterly analysis of the silicon wafer industry. Silicon wafer area shipments totaled 1,629 million square inches during the most recent quarter compared to the 1,619 million square inches in shipments reported during the previous quarter.

Silicon revenues experienced 4.5 percent growth from the second quarter 2004 and 34.3 percent growth from third quarter 2003 as a result of increased prices in all diameter sales, greater 300mm sales and overall volume demand.

"As growth peaked in the third quarter, silicon manufacturers remain optimistic about the healthy balance of supply and demand. 300 mm wafers continued as the leading product in terms of unit and revenue growth," said John Kauffmann, chairman of SEMI SMG and senior vice president of Sales and Marketing for MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. "During the quarter spot shortages were observed in several product families in the smaller diameter wafers. Wafer manufacturing capacity utilization remained very high in the third quarter, particularly for 200 mm products."

Quarterly Silicon Area Shipment Trends

Silicon Shipments- Millions of Square Inches

Million of Square Inches

Q3 2003 Q2 2004 Q3 2004

Polished 963 1,198 1,215

Epitaxial 285 360 353

Nonpolished 59 61 61

TOTAL 1,307 1,619 1,629

Silicon wafers are the fundamental building material for semiconductors, which in turn, are vital components of virtually all electronics goods, including computers, telecommunications products, and consumer electronics. The highly engineered thin round disks are produced in various diameters (from one inch to 12 inches) and serve as the substrate material on which most semiconductor devices or "chips" are fabricated.

All data cited in this release is inclusive of polished silicon wafers, including virgin test wafers, epitaxial silicon wafers, and non-polished silicon wafers shipped by the wafer manufacturers to the end-users.

The Silicon Manufacturers Group acts as an independent special interest group within the SEMI structure and is open to all SEMI members involved in manufacturing polycrystalline silicon, monocrystalline silicon or silicon wafers (e.g., as cut, polished, epi, etc.) not including reclaimed wafers. The purpose of the group is to facilitate collective efforts on issues related to the silicon industry including the acquisition of market information and statistics about the silicon industry and the semiconductor market.

SEMI is a global industry association serving companies that develop and provide manufacturing technology and materials to the global semiconductor, flat panel display, MEMS and related microelectronics industries. SEMI maintains offices in Austin, Beijing, Brussels, Hsinchu, Moscow, San Jose (Calif.), Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit http://www.semi.org/.

SEMI

CONTACT: Jonathan Davis, +1-408-943-6937, or jdavis@semi.org, or DanTracy, +1-408-943-7987, or dtracy@semi.org, both of SEMI

Web site: http://www.semi.org/

Source: PRNewswire

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