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Suppliers are investing new 300mm capacity, but it’s probably not enough. And despite burgeoning 200mm demand, only Okmetic and new players in China are adding capacity.
The supply chain for bare wafers is off-kilter. Demand is appreciably higher than the wafer suppliers can keep up with, creating shortages that could last for years.
For 300mm starting wafers, the top five big players — SEH and Sumco of Japan, Siltronic of Germany, GlobalWafers of Taiwan, and SK Siltron of Korea — have finally taking action over the last year, spending billions on new wafer facilities. The Big 5 account for 90% of the market, but their “greenfield” fabs won’t be producing wafers until 2024, at the earliest.
Of the bigger players, only Okmetic (No. 7 in terms of market share), which produces advanced, customized silicon wafers for the manufacture of MEMS, sensor, RF and power devices, is investing in 200mm. The other exceptions come from China, where a broad but fairly fragmented group of wafer suppliers is getting into the game. Industry experts say that the Chinese producers haven’t yet mastered the quality required, but it’s probably just a matter of time before they come up to par
