Rumor calls for TSMC to hike wafer prices by up to 25% next year
The 5nm Apple A14 Bionic chipset is made by TSMC from Apple’s designs
IC Insights says that last year TSMC generated revenue of $1,634 per wafer. And while the heavy demand for chips is supposedly forcing the company to have its employees working overtime, a rumor out of Taiwan suggests that TSMC is not including these extra hours when computing weekly working hours for its crew. It’s not that the foundry can’t afford to pay them. The company earned the equivalent of $18.5 billion last year, a record for TSMC, and a 50% gain year-over year. Samsung Foundry is TSMC’s main rival and both are in lockstep when it comes to the production of chips using the latest process node. And while not exactly producing its components using the same process node as TSMC and Samsung, Intel plans to raise its game by spending $20 billion to enter the contract foundry business. Many experts believe that both TSMC and Samsung will be able to keep their technological advantage over Intel to stay on top of the industry.
Should TSMC decide to hike wafer prices by 25% and cancel previous negotiated deals, consumers could find themselves shelling out more money than budgeted for new smartphones and other devices.
