Date: 6th Aug 2010

Semiconductor fabs' silicon consumption up 7% quarterly

Semiconductor equipment group SEMI has reported total silicon wafer area shipments were 2,365 million square inches during the most recent quarter, a 7 percent increase from the 2,214 million square inches shipped during the previous quarter. New quarterly total area shipments are 40 percent greater than second quarter 2009 shipments and are at their highest levels ever.

Semiconductor fabs worldover are running full time and the delivary scheduled are delayed due to spike in demand. The leading semiconductor analysts in semiconductor domain have analysed the overall semiconductor devices industry has grown by 50% in 1st half of 2010 compared to year ago.

"Total silicon shipped in terms of MSI has finally exceeded the high-water mark set in the second quarter of 2008," said Takashi Yamada, chairman of SEMI SMG and General Manager SUMCO. "We are encouraged by five consecutive quarters of growth in silicon shipments and expect silicon shipments to continue to trend with devices."
These figures exclude silicon shipped for solar semiconductor applications.