Electronics

Recently, SEMI released the "200mm fab outlook report" (hereinafter referred to as the report). The report shows that the capacity of 8-inch fabs will increase by 17% from 2020 to 2024, reaching a record high of 6.6 million wafers per month. During 2012-2019, equipment expenditures for 8-inch wafer fabs ranged from 2 billion to 3 billion U.S. dollars, and it is expected to reach nearly 4 billion U.S. dollars in 2021.

It is reported that the surge in equipment expenditures for 8-inch wafer fabs reflects that the global semiconductor industry is working hard to overcome the current chip shortage. CCID Consulting analyst Lv Penghao said with the reporter of "China Electronics News": "From last year, 8-inch wafers Tight production capacity and price hikes of circular foundries were once widely popular. This is because 8-inch silicon wafers are mainly used in special process technologies. As far as the current market is concerned, analog circuits include radio frequency chips, fingerprint recognition chips, image chips, and power supplies. Management chips, etc., basically use 8-inch wafers, which have a wide range of applications, covering consumer electronics, communications, computing, industry, and automobiles. It can be seen that 8-inch cost-effectiveness is currently the highest."

In recent years, as the Internet of Things has entered a mature stage of development, the number of artificial intelligence devices has soared, which has driven the demand for fingerprint identification products, power chips, and smart device MCNs, which has greatly increased the demand for 8-inch silicon wafers. It can be said that the chips manufactured by the 8-inch process cover almost all markets and have become the “sweet and pastry” in the industry.

SEMI CEO Ajit Manocha believes: "The 8-inch wafer fab outlook report shows that by 2024, 22 new 8-inch wafer fabs are expected to be built around the world to meet the needs of 5G, fabs that rely on analog chips, power management, and display driver integration. The growing demand for cars and IoT devices."

At the same time, the report shows that by the end of 2021, China's 8-inch production capacity will take the lead in the world, and its market share will reach 18%, followed by Japan and Taiwan, respectively, at 16%.

Lu Penghao believes that for China's semiconductor industry, vigorously developing 8-inch production capacity is now a major development direction to welcome the arrival of the post-Moore era. "However, although China is now the world leader in 8-inch production capacity, its domestic market share is still small. If you want to form a certain competitive advantage, while increasing production capacity, the next step is to work hard to open up the market, especially to seize the domestic market." Lu Penghao Said.