Suppliers of semiconductor-grade silicon wafers, who had originally planned to further raise their quotes by 10-20% in the third quarter as they did in the second, will be unable to do so due to declining capacity utilization rates at foundry players, according to JW Kuo, chairman of Topco Scientific, a distributor of semiconductor materials and equipment.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has revealed its utilization rate will slip from 99% to 92% in the third quarter, while United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) expects its utilization to drop to slightly above 70% during the same period.
Although wafer orders from foundry players for the fourth quarter look better than those for the third, overall order visibility is still unclear and therefore quotes for silicon wafers are likely to stay flat for a while, Kuo stated.