TSMC admits it's 'jealous' of memory chipmakers' margins, but is limiting its own price hike because its customers would not survive price increases of 'four to five times'

You can be sure that whatever TSMC does next, the rest of the industry will follow. Unfortunately, it looks like this major player in chip manufacturing is set to raise its prices by as much as 10% in 2027.

This is due to both the rising cost of materials as well as the company's overseas fab construction projects (such as the already booked up though not even built yet 2nm fab in Arizona). Price increases ranging between 5 to 10% will affect various chip production services offered by TSMC (via Nikkei Asia). Sources also claim that extra orders of high-performance computing chips not otherwise accounted for in customers' original forecasts will incur a 10 to 15% premium on top.

The services affected include TSMC's 7nm and more advanced fabrication processes. As TSMC accounts for over 70% of the global semiconductor foundry market, Big Tech will have little choice but to pay the bill when it's due.

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Waiting until the start of 2027 to raise its prices is considered a less aggressive move within the industry (especially in light of memory prices being predicted to rise by as much as 50% in Q3 of 2026). Indeed, we've already seen more than our fair share of price increases this year already.

For instance, earlier this month it was reported that AMD may raise the price of its GPU and VRAM bundles for graphics card makers. This follows news back in March that both AMD and Intel would be raising the prices for all of their respective CPUs too.

(Image credit: I-HWA CHENG/AFP via Getty Images)

On the more directly consumer-facing front, Apple has had to raise Mac and iPad prices too. The company reflected on the current state of memory supply, saying, "We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly." Valve engineers don't have a particularly sunny outlook either, saying, "Honestly, it's still getting worse." It's hard not to wonder just how sustainable such high prices are. Even SK hynix chairman Chey Tae-won admits that memory prices are "abnormally high," adding, "there are limits to how much prices can be raised."

During TSMC's earnings call earlier this month, chairman C.C. Wei shared some thoughts along these lines. Though Wei admitted he was "jealous" of memory chipmakers' runaway margins, he stressed that TSMC's pricing would not seek to imitate the memory industry, saying that customers simply would not survive if the company suddenly increased its prices "four or five times."

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He went on to add, "We earn our value and we make sure that our profit, our gross margin is enough for our long-term sustaining expansion. That's to the benefit of my customers and TSMC also. That's our philosophy."

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