Insiders report that TSMC is thinking about raising costs by up to a whopping 15 percent which is a far cry from the originally proposed increase of five percent. These price hikes will serve to protect TSMC from incurring any major losses due to the tariffs.
However these increases in cost will very likely have ripple effects amongst the consumer market. Goods that use chips sourced from TSMC will have to replace their advertised price tags with ones that are a lot less considerate of your wallet. Most brands will not be okay with a sudden decrease in profit and will try to pass it off to the consumer in my opinion.
Samsung for example is already in a tough spot because Qualcomm has planned price increases for the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2. If the company hasn’t perfected Exynos by then and it plans to stick with Snapdragon it’ll have these tariff-related cost increases to deal with as well. The next Galaxy phones can either be a lot more expensive or come with cheaper displays and cameras.
There are a few ways these cost increases can be avoided though they will take some time to be implemented. TSMC is probably going to shift a lot of chip production to the U.S. to avoid the tariffs. There’s already multiple plants under construction that will produce chipsets in the country.
Another means of avoiding these tariffs is by coming to an agreement. Apple for example might be exempted from these tariffs like in Trump’s first term. If CEO Tim Cook can convince President Trump to spare the company then the iPhone will end up having a significant cost advantage over its rivals.
TSMC is still waiting to see how Trump’s tariffs affect its business model but it’s very likely that it will go through with these price hikes and the end consumer will suffer for it.
