SK siltron, the only silicon wafer manufacturer in South Korea under strong grooming from SK Group, expands its footprint in the 300mm (12 inch) global wafer market in line with strong demand.

According to the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials Institute (SEMI) on Tuesday, silicon wafers area shipments reached 3.68 billion square inches during the first quarter this year, up 0.9 percent on quarter and 10.2 percent on year, surpassing the peak of 3.65 billion square inches reported in the third quarter last year.

Shipments of 300mm wafers, which have high productivity and efficiency, have increased with the rising demand for higher-performance chips.

According to global technology industry tracker Omdia, 300mm wafers accounted for 71.7 percent of the $12.9 billion silicon wafer market last year. The proportion of 300mm wafers is expected to grow to 72.0 percent this year, 73.9 percent in 2023, and 75.5 percent in 2025.

The demand for 300mm wafers is soaring as they can produce 2.5 times the amount of semiconductors than the 200mm (8 inch) wafers due to their larger diameter.

SK siltron is ramping up production facilities for 300mm silicon wafers in line with the announcement in March to invest 1.5 trillion won ($1.1 billion) over three years to increase capacity.

SK siltron’s market share of the 300mm silicon wafer market last year was 18.1 percent, ranking third after Japan’s Shin-Etsu Chemical and SUMCO Corp. It has maintained the No. 3 spot in the 300mm silicon wafer market since 2018.

The semiconductor material producer expanded its market share from 14.7 percent in 2018, 17.0 percent in 2019, to 18.6 percent in 2020. The gap with bigger companies Shin-Etsu Chemical and SUMCO has also narrowed from 17.8 percentage points and 10.4 percentage points in 2018 to 11.7 percentage points and 6.7 percentage points last year.

By Jung Yoo-jung and Susan Lee

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