TSMC will increase prices across the board starting from January next year, and wafer foundry prices will increase by 3-6%

[Financial Channel/Comprehensive Report] TSMC wafer foundry prices are rumored to increase again! According to supply chain sources, TSMC has determined that starting from January 2027, it will adjust the wafer out price according to different processes, with an increase of approximately 3% to 6%, with advanced processes such as 2nm and 3nm leading the increase. At the same time, part of TSMC's production capacity is already at full capacity, with the 8-inch wafer fab capacity utilization even exceeding 100%, and overall order visibility extending all the way to 2030.

"Digitimes" reported that this price adjustment will not only affect the production costs of TSMC customers, but may also further spread to the supply chain of foundry, packaging and testing, IC design and semiconductor materials. Supply chain sources pointed out that due to the shortage of 2nm and 3nm production capacity and the bottleneck of CoWoS advanced packaging that has not been completely lifted, it will be difficult for customers to switch suppliers in the short term even if they face price increases.

The report pointed out that TSMC’s price increases do not apply to all processes equally, but are adjusted based on process and product categories. Among them, demand for high-priced advanced processes such as 2nm and 3nm is strong, and customers are still queuing up to grab production capacity. As for mature and special processes, prices will be negotiated individually based on products, capacity utilization and customer conditions.

It is worth noting that AI demand is becoming an important force driving up wafer foundry demand. In the past, when the outside world talked about AI chips, the focus was mostly on GPUs, ASICs and high-bandwidth memories (HBM). However, as AI data centers continue to expand, demand has gradually spilled over to products such as PMICs, MCUs, MOSFETs, driver ICs, analog ICs, MEMS, mixed-signal chips, and sensors. High-speed optical communication components, silicon interposers, and packaging materials have also benefited.

Since the type and quantity of chips required for an AI server are more complex than in the past, ranging from computing, power supply, network communication to optical communication, the scope of AI demand driven by wafer foundries has further expanded. The report pointed out that the world's advanced 8-inch wafer foundry market in 2026 has been in short supply, with order visibility of about 3 to 5 months. The current capacity utilization rate exceeds 90%, and demand will remain strong in the second half of the year.

The effect of price increases may also extend to the entire semiconductor supply chain. Wafer foundries such as UMC, Power Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., and World Advanced Micro Devices have successively announced price increase strategies, and the related price increase effects are expected to last until 2027. Mature process manufacturers that have been affected by weak consumer demand and low production capacity utilization in the past have recently seen a recovery in AI-related chip orders, significantly improved their production capacity schedules, and their bargaining power has also increased.