GlobalWafer will not be able to complete orders until 2024
About a year ago, GlobalWafers acquired Siltronic AG of Germany for 125 Euros per share, a total of 3.75 billion Euros. This is the world’s third and fourth-ranked silicon wafer manufacturer M&A transaction, and it is also a heavyweight transaction in the semiconductor industry last year.
Recently, there have been media reports that GlobalWafer has informed customers that despite its best efforts to improve production efficiency, it is unlikely that all orders will be fully completed until at least 2024. At present, GlobalWafer is delivering about 90% of customer orders and has tried its best to meet customer needs. At the same time, it has increased investment and expanded its 12-inch silicon wafer production capacity.
The total order of GlobalWafer is $3.6 billion, and the supply agreement with many customers has been extended from 5 years to 8 years. Like other manufacturers in the semiconductor industry, GlobalWafer is also facing a shortage of raw materials, and the material structure used to produce silicon wafers has risen to varying degrees. According to the forecast of relevant institutions, next year’s global wafer shipments will increase by more than 6% and will increase slightly at a low rate in the next two years.
Company chairwoman Doris Hsu told: “The major task of our salespeople is to explain to customers why we can only fulfill 90 percent of their demand. GlobalWafers is not the only company in the world that is facing a supply challenge.”
If the current situation continues, the overall supply shortage in the semiconductor industry may be longer than expected.