TSMC delivered to Huawei only 8.8 million of the 15 million 5nm chips that the manufacturer ordered
The Kirin 9000 chip is made using TSMC’s 5nm process that features a transistor density of 171.3 million transistors per square mm; the higher the transistor density, the lower the process node and the greater the performance and energy-efficiency of a chip. The big question is whether Huawei was able to stock up on enough 5nm chips from TSMC before shipments stopped in the middle of this month.
The upstream supply chain also helped leak the pricing of TSMC’s 5nm wafer. The 12-inch wafer costs $16,988 when manufactured using TSMC’s 5nm process. Using the 7nm process, the same sized wafer is priced at $9,346. The foundry price to buy a single 5nm chip is $238, only a $5 difference than the 7nm price of $233.