On August 1, 2024, California time, according to the Silicon wafer quarterly analysis report released by SEMI's Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG), global silicon wafer shipments in the second quarter of 2024 increased by 7.1% quarter-on-quarter, reaching 3035 million square inches (MSI). But that's down 8.9 percent from 33.31 million square inches in the same period last year.

Chong Wei Li, Chairman of SEMI SMG and Vice President of GlobalWafers, said: "The silicon wafer market is recovering, driven by strong demand related to data center and generative AI products. While the recovery was uneven across applications, 300mm wafer shipments grew 8% sequentially in the second quarter, the best performance among all wafer sizes. More and more new semiconductor fabs are under construction or expanding capacity. "This expansion and the long-term trend toward a $1 trillion semiconductor market will inevitably lead to more silicon wafer demand."

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.

Silicon wafers are the basic material of most semiconductors and are an important part of all electronic products. The highly engineered wafers, which can be up to 12 inches in diameter, can be used as the substrate material for most semiconductor devices.