Fab capacity utilisation in Q3 was high for advanced processes and 300mm fabs but overall showed a decline, according to the latest Semiconductor Industry Capacity Statistics (SICAS) report, with the foundry industry experiencing sharp declines in capacity, actual wafer starts and capacity utilisation.

Overall IC fab capacity utilisation, across all processes and all wafer sizes, dropped further in Q3, with capacity going up by 17,000 wafer starts per week but actual wafer starts going down by 30,000 per week, leaving utilisation at 87 per cent of capacity in Q3, down from 89 per cent in Q2.

However, the good news for the industry is that 300mm capacity utilisation is high and going up. It was 96.5 per cent in Q3, compared to 94.8 per cent in Q2. 300mm wafer capacity increased from 950,000 wafer starts per week in Q2 to 1,019,000 wafer starts per week in Q3, while actual 300mm wafer starts increased from 400,000 in Q2 to 437,000 in Q3.

If you take the last figure in eight inch equivalents, it represents an increase from 900,000 actual wafer starts per week to 983,000 actual wafer starts per week.

On the most advanced processes, those better than 80nm, capacity utilisation was higher than the average, at 95.2 per cent which was the same percentage as in for Q2, with actual wafer starts per week growing by 65,000 in Q3 over Q2, and capacity growing by 67,000 wafer starts.

Capacity utilisation on 80nm-120nm processes is less, at 88 per cent of capacity, with a drop in both capacity - down 32,000 wafer starts per week - and in actual wafer starts - down nearly 40,000 wafer starts per week.

Foundry capacity shrank from 307,000 wafer starts per week in Q2 to 289,000 wafer starts per week in Q3, while actual foundry wafer starts shrank from 285,000 in Q2 to 250,000 wafer starts per week in Q3. Foundry capacity utilisation shrank from 92.8 per cent in Q2 to 86.4 per cent in Q3.

See also: Mannerisms, the blog of David Manners. Updated twice daily, it's the distinctive, entertaining, authoritative and never dull commentary on the semiconductor industry, from someone who knows. Sign up for the Mannerisms eNewsletter.

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