Japan Monocrystal Silicon Sales, Output to Hit Record in 2011

Japanese sales of monocrystal silicon for semiconductor will increase by 7% to 9,592 tonnes in 2011 from 2010, announced by Japan Society of Newer Metals on Wednesday. The association expects the sales volume exceeds the record in 2007 due to strong demand in emerging countries along with wider application in smart phone and tablet personal computer. The production increases by 7% to record 9,296 tonnes.

The monocrystal silicon sales increased by 39% to 8,965 tonnes in 2010 from 2009. The sales increased due to strong export demand. The output increased by 37% to record 8,688 tonnes. The output of multicrystalline silicon decreased by 21% to 6,806 tonnes in 2010 from 2009 due to Mitsubishi Materials’ outage.

High purity silicon consuming semiconductor demand is increasing in emerging countries and new applications including smart phone. The demand also increases for flat panel television, personal computer and power device.