SEMI (Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International) released its annual silicon wafer shipment forecast on October 21 local time: global semiconductor silicon wafer shipments in 2026 will grow 11.8% year over year to 14.42 billion square inches — equivalent to about 127.5 million 12-inch wafers — the second-highest level in history.
The report further projects that from 2027 to 2029, global silicon wafer shipments are expected to surpass the previous 2022 peak and keep setting new records, reaching 17.034 billion square inches by the end of the forecast period, or approximately 150.61 million 12-inch wafers. SEMI noted that wafer demand this year experienced AI-driven all-round growth: advanced logic processes pulled epitaxial wafer demand, advanced memory processes drove polished wafer demand, and utilization rates at mature-node fabs also rebounded markedly — three demand curves rising in sync, a rare alignment.
From an industry landscape perspective, silicon wafers are the barometer of semiconductor manufacturing, and the return to high-growth shipment territory signals growing upstream optimism about the AI compute cycle. The resonance between advanced and mature nodes is reactivating fab expansion and long-term material supply agreements; for downstream system and solution vendors, stable wafer supply growth will shore up capacity for industrial, automotive, and consumer chips, easing the structural shortages and price pressures of the past two years and giving long-cycle projects more confidence in component selection.
For an embedded hardware vendor like Junyi Microelectronics, the forecast sends a positive signal: the SoC supply underpinning the J-3568/J-3576/J-3588 core boards should remain stable, and the supply assurance and cost curves for key processors, memory, and power chips needed by the K-series edge intelligent motherboards, the 5G-EDGE-3399Pro/AI-BOX-3588 edge computing hosts, and the IPC-i5-1235U industrial mini PC will also benefit from capacity release — supporting the company’s long-term supply commitments and volume delivery capability for industry customers.
Source: IT Home: SEMI 2026 Silicon Wafer Shipment Forecast (2026-10-23)