SEMI reports a decrease in global silicon wafer shipments and sales in 2024 compared to the previous year.

Securities Times e Company News, SEMI's annual analysis report on the wafer industry released recently shows that the global wafer shipments in 2024 will decrease by 2.7% YoY to 122.66 million square inches (MSI), while the wafer sales will decrease by 6.5% YoY to US$11.5 billion. The report indicates that the wafer demand began to recover from the industry's downturn cycle in 2023 in the second half of 2024, but the terminal demand in some segments was weak, affecting the wafer factory utilization and the wafer shipments of specific applications, and the inventory adjustment speed was slower. The recovery is expected to continue to 2025, with stronger improvement in the second half. SEMI SMG Chairman and GlobalWafers Vice President Lee Chungwei said: "Generative AI and new data center construction have been driving the most advanced fabs and storage devices such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM), but most other terminal markets are still recovering from excess inventory. As many customers have pointed out in their earnings reports, the industrial semiconductor market is still in a strong inventory adjustment, which affects the global wafer shipments."