Driven by market variations and strong demand overall, semiconductor sales reached $149.9 billion in Q2 2024, up 18.3% YoY worldwide. Reportedly, silicon wafer shipments also rose 7.1% from Q1.
The global semiconductor sales reached $149.9 billion in Q2 2024, marking an 18.3% rise from Q2 2023 and a 6.5% increase from Q1 2024, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) report.
On the other hand, according to the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) quarterly report, global silicon wafer shipments rose by 7.1% quarter-over-quarter to 3,035 million square inches (MSI) in Q2 2024.
However, this figure represents an 8.9% drop compared to the 3,331 million square inches reported in the same quarter the previous year.
SIA also highlighted that the June 2024 sales hit $50.0 billion, up 1.7% from May 2024. As per their inference, based on a three-month moving average compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS), these figures reflect data from U.S. and non-U.S. chip firms.
Regionally, semiconductor sales saw significant variation, as suggested by the SIA report. Compared to the previous year, sales increased notably in China by 21.6% and in the Asia Pacific/All Other regions by 12.7%.
Conversely, sales experienced declines in Japan and Europe, with Japan’s sales dropping by 5.0% and Europe’s decreasing by 11.2%. This YoY trend highlights robust growth in key Asian markets, while traditional markets in Europe and Japan faced challenges.
Regarding month-to-month performance, June 2024 saw sales rise in the Americas by 6.3%, indicating regional solid growth. Japan also saw a slight increase of 1.8% in semiconductor sales, and China experienced a modest gain of 0.8%. However, sales decreased in Europe by 1.0% and in the Asia Pacific/All Other regions by 1.4%, reflecting regional volatility and potential market adjustments.
“The global semiconductor market remained strong during the second quarter of 2024, with quarter-to-quarter sales increasing for the first time since the fourth quarter of 2023,” said SIA President and CEO John Neuffer.
He noted that the June sales increased both MoM and YoY, with the Americas market showing the highest growth at 42.8% compared to June 2023.
Lee Chungwei, Chairman of SEMI SMG and Vice President and Chief Auditor at GlobalWafers, remarked that specifically, the silicon wafer market is recovering due to strong demand for data centres and generative AI products.
He stated that while the recovery is uneven across various applications, 300mm wafer shipments showed an 8% QoQ growth, the highest among all wafer sizes.
Lee also predicted that the rising number of new semiconductor fabs being built or expanded production, coupled with the trend towards a $1 trillion semiconductor market, is expected to boost demand for silicon wafers significantly.
