The market structure has changed, and the price of silicon wafers may rise

Recently, the major silicon wafer manufacturer GlobalWafers announced that it intends to acquire Siltronic AG, also a silicon wafer manufacturer, at a price of 125 euros per share. GlobalWafers said that the negotiations have entered the final stage and are expected to announce a deal in the second week (next week) of December.

GlobalWafers pointed out that the combination of the company and Siltronic will create an industry leader to provide a complete and technologically leading product line for all semiconductor customers worldwide. The combined business unit will be more complementary and effective in investing and expanding production capacity.

TrendForce analysts said that through this acquisition, GlobalWafers can increase production capacity and increase market share on the one hand, and on the other hand, it can increase its voice in future bargaining.

According to data, GlobalWafers is the largest 3-inch to 12-inch professional wafer material supplier in Taiwan's semiconductor industry. It has a complete wafer production line and its products are widely used in power management components, automotive power components, MEMS components and other fields.

In recent years, GlobalWafers has expanded its business scale through the acquisition of Japanese manufacturer Covalent, Denmark Topsil and American SunEdison.

From the perspective of the industrial structure, at present, the top five semiconductor wafer suppliers have accounted for more than 90% of the global market. Among them, GlobalWafers and Siltronic ranked third and fourth respectively, and the other three suppliers were Shin-Etsu Chemical (ranked first), Shengko of Japan (ranked second), and SK Siltron of South Korea (ranked fifth).

However, if GlobalWafers succeeds in acquiring Siltronic, it may change the pattern of the global semiconductor wafer market. By then, GlobalWafers' 12-inch silicon wafer market share will jump to the second place in the world, surpassing Japan's Seiko, and second only to Japan's Shin-Etsu Chemical.

TrendForce analysts said that the global semiconductor market is still hot, the most upstream silicon wafers are in short supply, and price increases may occur.