Invisible changes in semiconductors: 83 wafer fabs close in five years
Since the global economic recession of 2008-2009, the IC industry has been committed to phasing out old production capacity (such as 8-inch wafer fabs) in order to focus on producing larger, more cost-effective wafers; According to market research firm IC Insights, a total of 83 semiconductor manufacturing companies worldwide have closed or retrofitted wafer fabs between 2009 and 2014. The following figure shows that 41% of the wafer fabs that have been closed since 2009 are 6-inch wafer fabs, and 27% are 8-inch wafer fabs; Qimonda was the first semiconductor company to shut down a 12 inch wafer fab, as the company ceased operations in 2009. In 2013, Taiwanese memory companies ProMOS and Powerchip each closed a 12 inch wafer fab.
In terms of regions, Japanese semiconductor suppliers have closed a total of 34 wafer fabs since 2009, which is much higher than the number of semiconductor companies in other regions; Between 2009 and 2014, 25 wafer fabs were closed in North America, while 17 wafer fabs were closed in Europe (as shown in the figure below).
The global wave of wafer fab closures occurred in 2009 and 2010, partly due to a severe economic recession at the time; In 2009, a total of 25 wafer fabs were closed globally, compared to 24 in 2010; In 2012, 10 wafer fabs were closed, while in 2013, it was 12. The number of wafer fabs closed in 2011 and 2014 was the lowest between 2009 and 2014, at 6 each.
Given the recent consolidation trend in the semiconductor industry, as well as the soaring costs of new wafer fabs and IC production equipment, coupled with more IC companies moving towards "fab lite" or "fabless" business models, IC Insights expects that the number of wafer fab closures will accelerate in the coming years - which may be good news for wafer foundry companies, but semiconductor equipment and material companies may start to be nervous!
