On February 7, according to the Taiwan media "Economic Daily", the spot price of silicon wafers fell for the first time in nearly three years, affecting 6-inch, 8-inch and 12-inch wafers. The manufacturer said that at this stage, the silicon wafer inventory in the wafer factory is overstocked, which still needs time to digest.

    Silicon wafers are the necessary raw materials for the production of TSMC, Intel, Samsung, Liandian and other wafer factories. They are the key indicators to observe the development of semiconductor industry, and also the basis of electronic chips used in smart phones, computers, electric vehicles and other products. The current price of silicon wafers is more close to the current market situation, and can reflect the market dynamics more quickly than the contract price. According to the news, the spot price of silicon wafers fell, and Taiwan factories such as Universal Crystal, Taisenko and Hejing were affected.

    Among them, Universal Crystal has a high proportion of long-term contracts. The company said that the contract price remains unchanged, the support for customers is in terms of delivery time, and the spot price is determined by market supply and demand; Taisenko has many long-term customers and points out that it is expected to return to normal in the second half of the year; Hejing said that the price of 8-inch silicon wafers remained stable, and some of them cooperated with customers to adjust the delivery rhythm, while 6-inch products cooperated with customers to adjust the inventory, and the relevant shipments in the first quarter were estimated to decrease slightly.

    On the other hand, German silicon wafer manufacturer Siltronic (Shichuang) said that at present, customers‘ demand for its silicon wafers is still strong, but the slowdown in the terminal market may drag down the performance in 2023. Infineon is one of the largest customers of Shichuang. Infineon said recently that we saw a significant weakness in demand in smart phones, personal computers and data centers.

    It is reported that the silicon wafer manufacturer revealed that the customer‘s capacity utilization rate significantly decreased in the fourth quarter of last year, and now the customer‘s inventory pile is very high, which is bound to be adjusted. The situation of production reduction and capital expenditure reduction in storage has become more severe, and even some silicon wafer inventory levels in foundry factories have been as high as five or six months, which is equal to "more to full". Of course, they are not willing to buy more or even ask for price reduction. In addition, silicon wafer manufacturers said that due to the impact of interest rate rise, inflation and other factors, the market terminal demand decreased. In the fourth quarter of last year, it was reported that the current price of silicon wafer began to loosen, and recently began to reduce, which was the first time in more than three years since the outbreak of the epidemic.

    The manufacturer pointed out that the performance of the long-term contract and the trend of the long-term contract price will be the key to the operation of the silicon wafer factory this year. If the long-term contract price can be maintained, and the customer is also making up the purchase volume in the future, the relevant manufacturers still have the opportunity to strive for operation growth.

    The report shows that for the 6-inch silicon wafer with the weakest demand, the spot price fell the most this quarter, about a single-digit percentage; The 8-inch silicon wafer has little change on average; The spot price of 12-inch silicon wafer is relatively stable, but the manufacturer said that customers have asked for price reduction, and the two parties are negotiating.

    It is worth noting that many head fabs announced expansion in 2022. According to the original plan, these new production lines are expected to open in succession from the second half of this year to 2024. At present, Universal Crystal is expanding production in six countries and nine factories; The production expansion project of Oknetic silicon wafer, a subsidiary of Shanghai Silicon Industry, was officially started a few days ago.

    The data shows that outside the silicon wafer factory, the chip industry chain is still very hot for silicon carbide wafers and characteristic process silicon wafers. Oknetic is a company specialized in manufacturing characteristic process silicon wafers for MEMS, sensors, RF filters and power semiconductors; On February 1 local time, the US semiconductor manufacturer Wolfspeed announced that it planned to build the world‘s largest 200mm silicon carbide wafer factory in Salzburg, Germany; Universal Crystal recently said that at present, except for the slightly loose growth rate of small size wafers, large size and special wafers are fully produced.