As we get even more digitized every day, the need for silicon chips is on a rise, from our smartphones to modern-day electric cars, we are now heavily dependent on silicon wafers.

Even in a mid of a global chip crisis, it is being reported by SEMI that the worldwide silicon wafer area shipments have increased 4% sequentially to a record high of 3.337 billion square inches in the first quarter of 2021.

If compared to last year’s Q1, there’s a massive 14% surge from the 2.92 billion square inches in 2020. This shows the insane demand for silicon wafers across the globe so even though there’s a sequential increase in wafer shipment, the global chip crisis still exists.

“Logic and foundry continue to drive strong demand for silicon wafers,” said Neil Weaver, chairman of SEMI SMG and VP of product development and applications engineering at Shin Etsu Handotai America. “The memory market recovery further bolstered shipment growth in the first quarter of 2021.”

Silicon wafers and the supply chain components and ICs are also facing a shortage, and that’s why CEOs of big companies like Intel, NVIDIA, AMD are finding it hard to keep up with the demand. Even manufacturers like Nokia, its CEO, were also open that it would take some years to solve.

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