Continuation of supply and demand 'scissors'
Since 2017, global silicon wafers have continued to show imbalances in supply and demand, and offer prices have increased by 15%-20%. It is expected that the price of silicon wafers will increase by 20% in 2018. Zheng Zhenxiang, an analyst at Zhongtai Electronics, believes that the global silicon wafer supply and demand 'scissors' 'It will continue into 2020. The demand gap for silicon wafers will be 10%-20% in 2018. After the 12-inch, 8-inch wafers have risen in price, the 6-inch wafers may also rise in price.
Among various silicon wafer sizes, 12-inch silicon wafers account for more than 70%. According to the IHS Markit report, with the rapid development of smart devices, the demand for logic chips and memory chips such as CPU/GPU has remained strong. Most of these chips Made of 12-inch wafers. Future demand for large-size wafers will rise further.
According to Yan Lingxing, an analyst at Zhongtai Electronics, the global total production capacity of 12-inch silicon wafers is 5.5 million pieces per month, while more than 92% of the production capacity comes from Japan's Shinitsu Semiconductor, Hi-tech, Universal Wafer and other top five silicon wafer factories. An expansion rate of about 4% was announced. According to statistics from the Foresight Research Institute, the domestic production of 12-inch wafer fabs reached 10, with a production capacity of 620,000 tablets/month. 15 projects were under construction for 12-inch fabs, and the capacity under construction exceeded 81. Millions per month. The 12-inch silicon wafer is expected to further increase the demand gap.
IHS Markit expects that the area of semiconductor silicon wafers will increase by 4.5% in 2018. Global Silicon Board Chairman Xu Xiulan said that it does not consider investing in new plants, nor does it have plans to expand production. Instead, it allows existing production lines to release maximum production efficiency.
Localization continues to advance
Large-size silicon wafers are key materials in the field of integrated circuit manufacturing, and they are also a major shortcoming in China's semiconductor industry chain.
According to industry insiders, currently China's semiconductor wafer suppliers mainly produce 6-inch wafers and below, and have only two or three 8-inch silicon wafers, while 12-inch silicon wafers have always relied on imports. Large-size wafer size It is difficult to produce, and the main technical obstacle lies in the high purity of silicon in silicon wafers due to integrated circuit-related processes, and the yield problem caused by the increase in wafer size.
In 2015, former founder of SMIC Chang Yijing participated in the establishment of Shanghai Xinsheng, becoming the first 12-inch silicon wafer fab in China. The total planned production capacity of Shanghai Xinsheng 12-inch silicon wafer project was 600,000 pieces/month. It plans to produce 150,000 tablets/month of capacity in mid-2018, with full capacity in 2021.
However, Yang Jing, the secretary of Shanghai Xinyang, told the China Securities Journal that due to changes in the management of Shanghai Xinsheng Group and difficulty in ordering crystallizer equipment, the actual production of Shanghai Xinsheng was not as expected, and the current production capacity was only 5 Million / month or so.
According to public information, on June 30, 2017, Zhang Haojing resigned from the post of general manager of Shanghai Xinsheng, and Shanghai Fuyang Chairman Wang Fuxiang also no longer served as chairman of Shanghai Xinsheng, but both retained the board of directors. Shanghai Xinyang holds Shanghai New Rose 27.56% stake.
For many years, Zhonghuan Co., Ltd., which has cultivated photovoltaic monocrystalline silicon wafers for years, signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Wuxi Municipal Government and Jingsheng Electromechanical Co., Ltd., and will jointly invest in the construction of integrated silicon wafer projects with a total investment of approximately US$3 billion and an investment of approximately 1.5 billion yuan for the first phase. Dollars.