Price pressures mount after TSMC hikes fees
Smartphones, servers and other key ICT equipment are likely to rise in price from as early as next year as a result of price hikes and rising staff costs.
Clients of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (TSMC), the world’s biggest chip manufacturer, are still reeling from the company’s plans to increase prices by as much as 20%, according to multiple reports.
While the Taiwan giant is following many of its smaller competitors, who have already raised prices, the breadth of the price rises have shocked come customers, industry execs have told Nikkei Asia.
The biggest price rises will be for those requiring additional capacity or for chips made with older processes – which is slightly reassuring for makers of 5G handsets and other high-end products.
Orders for advanced chips made with 7nm processes or below will attract lower prices rises of around 7-9%.
Additionally, the higher TSMC prices will help drive out “double bookings,” where chip customers book capacity because of supply uncertainties.
TSMC chairman Mark Liu claimed in April that “actual capacity is larger than demand” in the industry, but was being soaked up by double bookings.
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