May 15, 2024 /SemiMedia/ -- According to SEMI's latest report, with global electronic product sales rising, inventories stabilizing and fab capacity increasing, the global semiconductor manufacturing industry showed signs of improvement in the first quarter of 2024, and industry growth is expected to be stronger in the second half of the year.

According to the report, chip sales achieved strong year-over-year growth of 22% in the first quarter of 2024 and are expected to surge by 21% in the second quarter of 2024 as high-performance computing (HPC) chip shipments increase and memory pricing continues to improve.

Chip inventory levels stabilized in the first quarter of 2024 and are expected to improve this quarter.

In addition, the production capacity of wafer fabs continues to increase, and is expected to exceed 40 million wafers (300mm wafers) per quarter. Production capacity increased by 1.2% in the first quarter of this year, and is expected to increase by 1.4% in the second quarter. China has the highest production capacity growth rate among all regions.

The report pointed out that demand in some semiconductor segments is recovering, but the pace of recovery is uneven. Artificial intelligence chips and high-bandwidth memory are currently the devices in highest demand, leading to investment and capacity expansion in these areas. However, as AI chips rely on a few key suppliers, their impact on overall chip shipment growth remains limited.