However, that represented an 8.9% decline from the 3,331 million square inches recorded during the same quarter last year, according to the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) reporting in its quarterly analysis of the silicon wafer industry.
"The silicon wafer market is recovering driven by strong demand related to products for data centres and generative AI," said Lee Chungwei), Chairman of SEMI SMG and Vice President and Chief Auditor at GlobalWafers.
"While the recovery is uneven across different applications, 300mm wafer Q2 shipments indicated 8% quarter-over-quarter growth for the best performance among all wafer sizes. There are a growing number of new semiconductor fabs under construction or ramping production volume. This expansion, along with the longer-term trend toward a $1 trillion semiconductor market, will inevitably require more silicon wafers."
Data cited in this release include polished silicon wafers, including those used as virgin test wafers, as well as epitaxial silicon wafers, and non-polished silicon wafers shipped by the wafer manufacturers to end users.
