GlobalWafers称12吋以上晶圆出现供给紧平衡，先進AI与HBM推升短缺

Taiwan's GlobalWafers: "Supply constraints have emerged in 12 inch wafers"

Taiwan's GlobalWafers has formally acknowledged a shortage in silicon wafers.

At its second quarter earnings conference call on the 4th, GlobalWafers said an imbalance between supply and demand in the semiconductor wafer industry is already underway, adding that its 12 inch (300mm), 8 inch (200mm) and 6 inch (150mm) lines have effectively reached maximum utilization and that supply constraints have already emerged for some advanced 12 inch products.

Orders have surged on rising demand from AI semiconductors, high bandwidth memory (HBM), silicon photonics and advanced packaging. The company explained that the shortage has become a reality as logic makers, not only memory makers, move to secure long term capacity.

The shortage is appearing across the wafer industry. Germany's Siltronic said in its earnings release on the 30th of last month that inventories at memory and logic customers are normalizing and that customers have begun rebuilding wafer safety stock, adding that this restocking is expected to increase wafer demand further and that new customers as well as existing ones are requesting 300mm volumes.

Japan's Shin-Etsu Chemical, the global number one, also said in its earnings release on the 24th of last month that 300mm wafer shipments grew at double digit rates both year over year and quarter over quarter. Japan's SUMCO likewise assessed in May that customer inventory adjustment was entering its final stage. SK Siltron is expanding capacity by bringing equipment at its new fab online in stages, but the pace of order growth is understood to be outrunning that.

The way long term agreements (LTAs) are struck is also changing. In the past the purpose was for customers to secure stable volumes, but recently they have taken on a stronger character of locking up capacity ahead of a shortage. Contract terms are also lengthening from around three years to five to eight years.

Last month GlobalWafers signed a 10 year LTA with Micron, the longest in the wafer industry. The contract begins next year and includes strategic financial support in the nature of a prepayment. Most of its revenue in the second half of this year and the first half of next year is also expected to come from LTAs.

Shin-Etsu Chemical said it currently supplies all of its 300mm wafers under LTAs. Siltronic supplies two thirds of its volume through LTAs. Memory customers are requesting volumes for delivery two to three years out.

Moves to raise prices are also emerging. With supply tight, prices have begun to rise first in the non LTA (spot) market. Siltronic said prices for 300mm non LTA wafers have started to rise. GlobalWafers also expects spot prices in the second half of this year to be higher than in the first half.

Price increases are expected to spread to LTAs as well. GlobalWafers said it is discussing price increases with customers to reflect higher raw material, energy, logistics and labor costs, adding that while LTAs already signed will maintain their contracted prices, new contracts will reflect not only price and volume but also price adjustment mechanisms, product mix and market changes. Siltronic likewise stressed that with some LTA renegotiations coming up in 2027 and 2028, prices need to recover to levels that allow reinvestment, and that broad and meaningful price increases are necessary.

The wafer industry had previously gone through roughly two years of simultaneous shipment declines and price pressure as customer inventories built up sharply from 2023. Customer inventories of 300mm wafers then turned lower from late 2025, and months of inventory also declined from the first quarter of this year, completing the inventory correction. The industry is understood to have turned from the second quarter of this year.

A deeper shortage and full scale price increases are expected to appear from the second half of 2027. Rising utilization at existing semiconductor lines is currently driving shipment growth, but once new memory fabs from Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Micron come online, wafer demand is expected to rise to roughly double current levels.