Mar. 7, 2023 /SemiMedia/ — According to TheElec, in the past three years, South Korea’s imports of silicon wafers from China have continued to grow. Imports from China totaled $424 million in 2020, $563 million in 2021, and $777.7 million in 2022.
On the contrary, South Korea’s imports of silicon wafers from Japan have declined in the past three years. Imports totaled $916 million in 2020, $948 million in 2021, and $897 million in 2022.
The report pointed out that the silicon wafer market is worth about 12 billion US dollars, of which the top five suppliers account for more than 95% of the market share. According to the data for 2021, Shin-Etsu has a 31.4% market share, followed by Sumco with 24.4%, GlobalWafers with 17.8%, SK Siltron with 13.5%, and Siltronic with 9.5%.
However, the market has changed over the past two years. Suppliers in China are rising due to cost competitiveness, but the wafers provided by these suppliers are mostly low-end 6-inch and 8-inch wafers at low prices.
Industry insiders said that this will not affect the global silicon wafer supply chain in a short period of time, but in the long run, no one will know.