As chip suppliers cut production, iSuppli predicted in March 2008 that the global excess semiconductor inventory in the first quarter would fall to $2.9 billion, down 14.6% from $3.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007. In May, iSuppli saw the weak performance of the consumer electronics market in the first quarter, especially the digital TV, MP3 player and digital camera markets. In addition, the slow shipment of PC and mobile phone products has affected the digestion of excess inventory of chip suppliers. ISuppli raised the global semiconductor inventory in the first quarter to 3.6 billion US dollars, and lowered the global semiconductor inventory in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 2.3 billion US dollars. Although chip suppliers have cut their output, customers have delayed orders due to insufficient demand for downstream terminal electronic products, further worsening the excess inventory in the electronic supply chain. At present, the market visibility is not high. iSuppli expects that the global semiconductor inventory will remain at a high level in the second quarter.

TSMC, Intel and Samsung will jointly develop 18 inch wafer TSMC, Intel and Samsung Electronics, the world's three major semiconductor manufacturers, jointly announced that they will jointly develop 18 inch large-sized wafers in the future to break through the problem of increasing chip manufacturing and application costs, improve overall production efficiency and promote the sustainable growth of the semiconductor industry.

The cycle of wafer replacement in the semiconductor industry is about 10 years. In 1991, a 200mm (8-inch) wafer factory was put into production, and in 2001, a 300mm (12 inch) wafer was put into production. With the increase of wafer size, the number of grains in a single wafer integration is doubled, which helps to reduce the manufacturing cost of IC.

TSMC, Intel and Samsung believe that 2012 will be the time for the semiconductor industry to officially enter the manufacturing of 450mm (18 inch) wafers. The number of grains produced by each 450mm wafer will be more than twice that of 300mm. In addition to the reduction of production costs, the reduced use of energy, wafers and other resources in the production process will help to improve air pollution, global greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption. It is estimated that a 450mm wafer factory will cost US $10 billion, equivalent to three times the capital scale of a 300mm factory. The three companies are now cooperating with other semiconductor manufacturers to ensure that the components, infrastructure and technical capabilities required for the future import of 450mm wafers are ready, testing is completed, and standardized processes are established.

In the first quarter, the shipment area of silicon wafers remained stable. The shipment volume of 300 mm wafers continued to grow. According to the quarterly analysis of silicon wafer industry released by Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG), the global shipment area of silicon wafers in the first quarter of 2008 was 2.163 billion square inches, a year-on-year growth of 3%, and the growth rate remained stable. Influenced by the seasonal slack and the conservative trend of the industry, the area of silicon wafers shipped in the first quarter fell by 1% month on month. Among them, the shipment volume of 300mm wafers continued to grow.

In the first quarter of 2008, the global mobile phone shipments increased by 17% year on year. According to iSuppli data, the global mobile phone shipments in the first quarter of 2008 were 296 million units, up 17% from 253 million units in the first quarter of 2007. However, due to seasonal factors, the global mobile phone shipments in the first quarter of 2008 decreased by 12.4% compared with 338 million in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Although the top five manufacturers are still Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, LG and Sony Ericsson, the ranking of manufacturers has changed from last quarter. In the first quarter, Nokia continued to hold the first place in the global mobile phone market, with the shipment of 115.5 million mobile phones, 26.8% higher than the same period in 2007, 13.5% lower than the same period in 2007, and the market share was 39%, down 0.5 percentage point. The number of mobile phones shipped in China was 21 million, up 4% from the fourth quarter of 2007. The proportion of mobile phone shipments in China accounted for 18.2% of Nokia's global mobile phone shipments from 14.5% in the first quarter of 2007.

Samsung Electronics ranked second. Its market share in the first quarter increased from 13.7% in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 15.6%. Motorola ranked third, with its market share declining from 12.1% in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 9.3%. LG Electronics ranked fourth, and its market share increased from 7.0% in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 8.2%. Sony Ericsson ranked fifth, and its market share dropped from 9.1% in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 7.5%. In terms of the domestic market, CCID data shows that the sales volume and sales volume of mobile phones in the first quarter of 2008 were not greatly affected by seasonal factors, and both achieved steady growth, with the sales volume reaching 43.05 million units and 49 billion yuan, up 4.02% and 7.22% respectively from the fourth quarter of 2007. The top five brands in the market are Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Tianyu and Sony Ericsson, with market share of 37.4%, 14.1%, 8.5%, 5.0% and 3.0% respectively.