Silicon Wafers Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product, By Production Technology, Regional Outlook, Competitive Strategies, And Segment Forecasts, 2019 To 2025

The global silicon wafer market is anticipated to grow significantly over the forecast period. A silicon wafer, which is also referred to as silicon slice or substrate, is essentially a thin slice of a semiconductor material such as silicon crystals. It is a thin round disk that is produced in numerous diameters. It is used in a number of industries such as in integrated circuits (IC), MEMS fabrication, detectors or sensors, and opto-electronic components among others. Silicon wafers form the building blocks of semiconductors since semiconductor devices or chips are fabricated on these substrates. These semiconductors are then used in electronic devices ranging from computers to consumer electronics, telecommunication products, etc. The growing demand for these electronics is expected to give impetus to the global silicon wafers market over the next few years. 

On the basis of their use, silicon wafers are manufactured with different dimensions and using surface finishes and doping additives. Companies operating in the market offer products such as epitaxial, polished, and non-polished wafers, with diameters sizes of up to 300 mm. They are made using silicon monocrystals that can be derived by float zone technology or by Czochralski process. Polished wafers are mainly used for making flash memory, LCD drivers, and DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory). On the other hand, epitaxial wafers comprise an additional layer of single-crystal silicon deposition and are used for making image sensors, power devices, and microprocessors among others. A key challenge for major market players is dealing with increasing diameter sizes of wafers, since transitioning to 450 mm diameter wafers is a considerable investment. 

Asia Pacific is expected to dominate the overall silicon wafers market through the forecast period and grow at a rate much faster than the global average. This can be attributed to growth in application areas of semiconductors in this region. Major industry participants have been looking at mergers and acquisitions among other growth strategies. The key players include Shin-Etsu Handotai, Sumco Corporation, Siltronic, LG Siltron, and SunEdison, which collectively constitute the majority of the overall market. Other companies include Wafer Works Corporation, Sino-American Silicon Products, Okmetic, and Shanghai Simgui Technology among others. 

This report, by Grand View Research, takes a closer look at the silicon wafers industry, providing a holistic perspective on market dynamics, trends, supply, and demand. The report deep-dives into the market and segments it on multiple levels and providing key insights on a macro as well as micro-level. The study aims at providing granular information, regarding estimates and forecasts for key regional markets of North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World (RoW). 

This research report analyzes various factors which have been driving and inhibiting the global silicon wafers market in the past. In addition, the report analyzes the impact of each driver and restraint on the market growth, which forms the base for the market forecast. The report also showcases the opportunities available in the market which may act as future drivers for the market.