GlobalWafers Unable to Supply its Customers Fully Until 2024

The world’s third largest supplier of silicon wafers—GlobalWafers—has told its customers that it’s unlikely that it will be able to fulfill all of their orders until at least 2024, despite trying its best to improve production efficiency. The company is currently delivering around 90 percent of its customer orders and is doing its best to meet customer demand, while at the same time investing heavily in increasing production capacity of 12-inch wafers.

GlobalWafers has orders lined up along the tune of US$3.6 billion and many of its customers have increased their supply agreements from five to eight years. Like many other industries, the silicon wafer manufacturers are having supply problems with raw materials and have seen a price increase for many of the materials used in the production of silicon wafers. That said, global shipments of silicon wafers are said to see a growth of over six percent next year and should continue to increase at a slightly lower rate the following two years. It would appear the shortage of various ICs will continue, maybe even longer than expected, unless we see an industry wide change into what is being produced and there’s a focus on fewer products, which might in turn allow for at least some of the backlogs to be cleared.