NAND flash, especially SSDs, will be the largest application for 18-inch silicon wafers in the future, CEO and chairman Bill Chiu of Gudeng Precision Industrial said at an April 26 investors conference.

If hard disk drives around the world are replaced with SSDs, global demand for NAND flash will be enough to support the operation of 10 18-inch fabs, Chiu said.

Gudeng was invited to participate in the specification of standards and formats for 18-inch wafers in 2008, and has obtained patent licenses from Entegris for the production of FOUP (front-opening unified pod), MAC (multi-application carrier) and FOSB (front-opening shipping box) solutions for use with 18-inch wafers, Chiu indicated. Currently, products related to 18-inch wafers account for 28% of Gudeng's revenues, Chiu said.

Gudeng posted revenues of NT$183 million (US$6.2 million), gross margin of 54.45%, net operating profit of 39 million and net profit of NT$35 million for the first quarter of 2012.