According to Digitimes, the average selling price (ASP) per square inch of silicon wafers came to $0.86 in the first quarter of 2018 reaching the highest since 2013, with the ASP expected to reach $1 by the end of 2019.
With silicon wafer ASPs looking promising, Digitimes suggests suppliers are set to experience profit growth over the next several years.
The supply of silicon wafers (particularly 8- and 12-inch) will remain tight for at least 1-2 years, says Digitimes. Whether the tight supply will persist after 2020 will very much depend on the demand side, it adds.
Industrial, IoT and automotive applications will play major drivers of demand for 8-inch wafers, while demand for 12-inch wafers will come from mainly the Cloud storage and smartphone segments, Digitimes concludes.
