The Semi Silicon Manufacturers Group released the findings of its quarterly analysis on the unsuspecting public today.

According to Semi, wafer shipments increased from 2,163 million square inches in the first quarter to 2,303 million square inches in the second quarter. Compared with last year's second quarter, total shipments increased by nearly five percent. Wafer makers shipped 2,201 million square inches of silicon in the previous year. Increased wafer shipments will make the industry happy, after the first quarter was as flat as the earth in the middle ages. Wafer shipments had decreased by 1% in the first quarter when compared to the fourth quarter of 2007, in which the industry shipped 2,185 million square inches.

Quarter over quarter growth was apparently thanks to 300mm wafer production. Chipmakers worldwide are currently getting rid of their 200mm production lines and are upgrading to the 300mm, or 12 inch, process. Installing new 300mm equipment makes it possible to produce silicon wafers with a larger diameter, which in turn means more chips can be produced from a single wafer. South Korean DRAM maker Hynix stated it would shut down its 200mm plant in the US and would examine doing the same with the 200mm facilities in Korea itself.

'Following the slightly weaker first quarter and macro economic concerns silicon shipments grew more than 6% in Q2 which is in-line with normal seasonality for the quarter, particularly with the start of a new fiscal year for most Japanese companies” spoke Semi chairwoman Kazuyo Heinink. X