Global silicon production 2023, by leading country

China is the world’s largest silicon producer, with a production volume estimated at 6.6 million metric tons in 2023. The second-largest producer of this metalloid was Russia, which produced 620,000 metric tons in the same year. The total global production of silicon was estimated at nine million metric tons in 2023.

Silicon and silicon wafers

Silicon is a chemical element and a semiconductor that is economically important worldwide due to its industrial uses in steel refining, aluminum-casting, chemical processes, and perhaps as it is most widely known, in semiconductor electronics. Silicon wafers are thin slices of semiconductor that are used for the fabrication of integrated circuits, and to manufacture solar cells. In 2022, the total revenue generated from silicon wafers worldwide reached a new record high of some 13.8 billion U.S. dollars.

Main uses of silicon wafers

Silicon wafers are used in a variety of products, including mobile and smartphones, desktops, notebooks, industrial products, and other electronic products. Global silicon wafer area shipments have been on a mostly upward trend over the last decade, having surpassed 14.7 billion square inches in 2022. Furthermore, silicon wafers are also involved in the manufacture of solar cells and solar panels. Globally, China dominates the production of solar PV modules from crystalline silicon.