Recent rumors from Taiwan have indicated that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) may increase the prices of its most modern 3-nanometer semiconductors. At present, TSMC is the most cutting-edge foundry in the field of wafer manufacturing, using a 3-nanometer process, even with the most powerful giant participants such as Apple and NVIDIA there are large orders and channels.
TSMC Plans Price Hike for 3nm Chips
Rumors from earlier in the month suggested that it could result in a price bump for 3-nanometer chips, but Wednesday’s report from China Times backed by supply chain sources provides more context on that move. The China Times reports that TSMC intends to raise 5% of its 3-nanometer prices due to a good market situation. Additionally, significant increases in pricing for advanced packaging are expected next year, with estimates ranging between 10% and 20%.
In the fast-growing market for AI products, the assembly of chips into working units for computers has also become critical advanced packaging an increasingly popular area of research. According to sources from the China Times, TSMC will increase its packaging capacity in an all-out effort to double monthly production to 33,000 wafer starts in the third quarter of this year from its current 17,000 starts.
Half of TSMC’s advanced packaging nodes have been planned for NVIDIA’s products, while the other half will be split between AMD, according to the sources. Though the smartphone processors are killed, the AI GPUs & accelerators of AMD & NVIDIA are difficult to manufacture because they have high power demands and are super high-performance, requiring advanced packaging techs.
Demand for 3 nm chips is predicted to rise in the second semester of 2021, with the complete capacity being allegedly fully utilized until 2025-2026. We are also expecting similarly tight wafer-level package demand-supply dynamics with next year’s demand forecast at about 600,000 wafers, which is above TSMC’s capacity of 530,000 wafers.
This imbalance between demand and supply is driving manufacturers to expand capacity, consequently pushing prices higher. NVIDIA, in particular, has seen significant stock price gains over the past year, buoyed by expectations of its pivotal role in accelerated computing. The demand for AI chips remains robust, driven by major players like Microsoft’s OpenAI, Meta, and Tesla, all competing for cutting-edge GPUs to enhance their AI capabilities.
