Well-known research firm Gartner recently updated its forecast for the foundry industry, pointing out that foundry capacity utilization will decline quarter by a quarter from the second quarter of this year, mainly due to the continuous release of new capacity supply, as well as the decline in consumer demand for end electronics.
Gartner expects that after the global equivalent 8-inch wafer shipments reached 22 million pieces in the fourth quarter of last year, shipments will fluctuate between 22-23 million pieces per quarter this year and next, while production capacity will continue to grow to 28 million wafers (equivalent 8-inch) per quarter by the end of last year.
As the gap between capacity and shipments widens, Gartner believes that the wafer foundry capacity utilization will fall to 90.3% in the third quarter of this year, 86.5% in the fourth quarter, is expected to decline to about 80% by the end of next year.
