SiC Processing hit by trimmed wafer capacities

Germany – Wafer slurry recycling specialist SiC Processing has been forced to react to the manufacturing shift from Europe to China.

Following the closure and reduction in capacity at REC’s wafer operations at Heroya and Glomfjord in Norway, SiC Processing has made the decision to shut its operations permanently; although REC is still producing wafers, volumes are not high enough for the economically viable operation of the recycling plant.

In Germany, SiC Processing has begun short-time working at its Bautzen facility due to weak demand, affecting approximately 100 employees.

In contrast, the company announced as recently as November that it had opened the first of six production lines at its new site at Zhenjiang in China. However, it has also been noted that overcapacity and weak demand will lead to the new facility being under-utilised. SiC Processing’s production Line 2 has been undergoing commissioning, while Line 3 is scheduled to be completed at the end of December.

The six production lines at Zhenjiang will provide approximately 90 000 tonnes of annual capacity by the end of 2012 for the recycling of used sawing suspension.