Global Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) Market Insights, Forecast to 2025

Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) is a semiconductor fabrication technique developed by IBM that uses pure crystal silicon and silicon oxide for integrated circuits (ICs) and microchips. An SOI microchip processing speed is often 30% faster than today's complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-based chips and power consumption is reduced 80%, which makes them ideal for mobile devices. SOI chips also reduce the soft error rate, which is data corruption caused by cosmic rays and natural radioactive background signals.
SOI, as the name suggests, consists of a top thin layer of silicon and a bottom thick layer of silicon. An insulator material such as silicon dioxide (SiO2) is placed between these two layers. SOI offers high performance, low power consumption, and high speed compared to traditional silicon wafers. All these factors make it an ideal choice for portable applications such as mobile phones, portable digital assistants (PDAs), notebooks, digital cameras, and others. These wafers were developed in the 1960s for defense and military applications, and the commercialization of these wafers took place gradually

The growth of this market is propelled by the growth in the consumer electronics market, low wafer and gate cost, low operating voltage, and miniaturization of semiconductor devices.

Based on diameters, 200 mm SOI wafers held the largest share of the SOI market in 2017. The market for these wafers is expected to grow at a high rate between 2017 and 2025. 200 mm wafers are mainly used for manufacturing RFSOI wafers, which are further used in smartphones for manufacturing antenna switches and other important components. Currently, virtually all the RF chips, including 2G, 3G, and 4G, are manufactured by using 200 mm SOI wafers. The improvement will be primarily driven by the growth in sales volumes for 300 mm wafers and by controlling production costs on the small diameter line that is running at full capacity. The loading rate of the 300 mm production lines improved significantly, but still remains globally low.

BESOI, ELTRAN, SoS, SiMOX and smart cut are the technology segment of the market. Smart cut technology accounted for the largest share of the SOI market in 2017. Soitec (France) developed the smart cut technology in collaboration with CEA-Leti (microelectronics research lab). The licensing of Soitec's Smartcut™ technology to other companies is anticipated to further increase the SOI wafer supply.

Soitec, the world’s leading provider of SOI wafers, has been pioneering the SOI technology. This company accounted for more than 69% of the revenues of the world SOI wafers market in 2017. The other key participants in the SOI wafer market are SunEdison (acquired by Globalwafers Co., Ltd. in 2016), Shin-Etsu Handotai Co. Ltd. and a few others like SUMCO CORPORATION, Ultrasil Corporation and etc. Manufacturer are focusing on strategies such as new product launches, expansions, contracts, and collaborations to enhance their product offerings and expand their business.

The computing and mobile segment accounted for the largest share of the overall SOI market in 2017. Power consumption is one of the burning issues faced by the consumer electronics segment. There are various issues associated with the conventional bulk CMOS technology, such as slow processing speed, high power consumption, low battery life, and soft errors such as data loss caused due to cosmic rays and natural radioactive background signals. The SOI microchip overcomes all these issues and improves the processing speed and performance by up to 30% compared with the CMOS-based chips; it also reduces the power consumption by up to 80%. These features make it ideal for use in computers and cell phones.

Asia-Pacific is predicted to witness the fastest growth over the forecast period owing developing integrated circuit industry. The leading players are emphasizing on modernizing their plants in APAC and fab facilities with advanced technologies. The countries such as China (Taiwan included) and Japan have the largest semiconductor manufacturing base, which is further helping the SOI market grow in this region. The increase in production facilities, rising demand for consumer electronics products, and continuous upgradation and improved efficiency of fab facilities are the key factors driving the growth of the SOI market in APAC.

The key factors restraining the growth of the SOI market are the lack of available IP ecosystem and the floating body effect. The floating body effect is one of the major drawbacks of the SOI devices. It is the dependence of body potential on the history of biasing.

The Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) market was valued at xx Million US$ in 2018 and is projected to reach xx Million US$ by 2025, at a CAGR of xx% during the forecast period. In this study, 2018 has been considered as the base year and 2019 to 2025 as the forecast period to estimate the market size for Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI).

This report presents the worldwide Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) market size (value, production and consumption), splits the breakdown (data status 2014-2019 and forecast to 2025), by manufacturers, region, type and application.
This study also analyzes the market status, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, risks and entry barriers, sales channels, distributors and Porter's Five Forces Analysis.

The following manufacturers are covered in this report:
Soitec SA
Shin-Etsu Chemical
SunEdison

Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) Breakdown Data by Type
300 mm SOI
Small Diameters
Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) Breakdown Data by Application
Automobile and Smart Industry
Consumer Electronic
Other

Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) Production by Region
United States
Europe
China
Japan
South Korea
Other Regions

Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) Consumption by Region
North America
United States
Canada
Mexico
Asia-Pacific
China
India
Japan
South Korea
Australia
Indonesia
Malaysia
Philippines
Thailand
Vietnam
Europe
Germany
France
UK
Italy
Russia
Rest of Europe
Central & South America
Brazil
Rest of South America
Middle East & Africa
GCC Countries
Turkey
Egypt
South Africa
Rest of Middle East & Africa

The study objectives are:
To analyze and research the global Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) status and future forecast，involving, production, revenue, consumption, historical and forecast.
To present the key Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) manufacturers, production, revenue, market share, and recent development.
To split the breakdown data by regions, type, manufacturers and applications.
To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.
To identify significant trends, drivers, influence factors in global and regions.
To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.

In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) :
History Year: 2014 - 2018
Base Year: 2018
Estimated Year: 2019
Forecast Year: 2019 - 2025

This report includes the estimation of market size for value (million USD) and volume (K Units). Both top-down and bottom-up approaches have been used to estimate and validate the market size of Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) market, to estimate the size of various other dependent submarkets in the overall market. Key players in the market have been identified through secondary research, and their market shares have been determined through primary and secondary research. All percentage shares, splits, and breakdowns have been determined using secondary sources and verified primary sources.

For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2018 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.

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