Key facts
- Siltronic raised its annual sales forecast for the second time in 2026, citing stronger wafer demand.
- CEO Michael Heckmeier said AI demand is pulling chip supply toward data centers and away from smartphones and PCs.
- Heckmeier said AI server farms use roughly three to four times more silicon area than traditional servers.
- Heckmeier said chipmakers send supply to the segments that pay best, with hyperscalers able to pay the most.
- Heckmeier said he sees no slowdown in AI demand and that capacity could return to other markets if it came.
Siltronic, which makes silicon wafers used in semiconductors, raised its annual sales forecast for the second time in 2026 on November 4, citing stronger demand for its wafers. CEO Michael Heckmeier told Reuters in an interview that the AI chip boom is redirecting semiconductor supply toward data centers and away from smartphones and PCs, constraining some end markets.
"It's not that AI is offsetting certain weaknesses," Heckmeier said. "It's more AI is generating a certain weakness." He said demand for AI-related chips is strong enough that manufacturers are allocating more supply to those applications, leaving less capacity for other end markets.
"When our customers have the choice to sell their chips to different segments, they will always send them to the ones that pay best," he said. "The pockets of the AI players, particularly the hyperscalers, are the deepest."
Heckmeier said AI server farms consume roughly three to four times more silicon area than traditional servers, which lifts demand for advanced wafers. He said any moderation in AI demand would not necessarily derail industry growth, because capacity could flow back to smartphones, PCs and other markets where underlying demand remains solid.
"We don't see it at all today," Heckmeier said of any slowdown in AI demand. "But even if it came, we feel there is a natural balance in the system that the overall growth dynamics could go on."