Global silicon wafer shipments increased by 13% year-on-year in Q1. SEMI: Demand extends from memory to power management components.

2026/05/07

TechNews Report
April 30, 2026
Author: Lin Yu-rou

According to its quarterly silicon wafer industry analysis report, the Silicon Manufacturers Group (SEMI SMG), a division of the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), indicated that global silicon wafer shipments reached 3,275 million square inches (MSI) in the first quarter of 2026, a 13.1% increase compared to 2,896 million square inches in the same period of 2025. However, compared to 3,437 million square inches in the fourth quarter of 2025, this represents a 4.7% quarter-on-quarter decrease, a trend consistent with typical seasonal patterns.

Ginji Yada, Chairman of SEMI SMG and Executive Vice President of Business and Marketing at SUMCO Corporation, stated that demand for silicon wafers related to AI data centers remains strong, encompassing advanced logic and memory applications, and extending to power management components.

Ginji Yada pointed out that although silicon wafer demand has improved, the recovery is uneven. Many component companies have observed a rebound in demand in the industrial semiconductor sector, with wafer inventory reduction driving a broader market recovery. However, smartphone and PC shipments were weak in the first quarter of this year, reflecting that some capacity was shifted to prioritize supporting AI high-bandwidth memory (HBM), making general memory supply relatively tight, which in turn affected smartphone and PC shipments.

Silicon wafers are the basic material for most semiconductor products, and semiconductors are indispensable core components of all electronic devices. These highly engineered thin wafers, with diameters up to 300mm, are the substrate material used in the vast majority of semiconductor manufacturing.

The SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SEMI SMG) is a subcommittee of the SEMI Electronic Materials Group (EMG), open to SEMI members engaged in the manufacture of polycrystalline silicon, monocrystalline silicon, or silicon wafers (including dicing, polishing, epitaxy, etc.).

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