Total silicon wafer area shipments were 2,997 million square inches during the most recent quarter, a 0.7 percent increase from the record 2,978 million square inches shipped during the previous quarter. New quarterly total area shipments are 9.8 percent higher than third quarter 2016 shipments and continue to ship at their highest recorded quarterly level.

"Global silicon wafer shipment volumes surpassed record levels for the sixth quarter in a row, resulting in a new historical high,” said Chungwei (C.W.) Lee (李崇偉), chairman of SEMI SMG and spokesman, VP, Corporate Development and chief auditor of GlobalWafers (環球晶圓). “While silicon demand is strong, silicon pricing remains well below pre-downturn levels.”