Apparently, the cost for an N2 wafer will be more than 50% greater than an N3 one.
It’s no secret that the process behind the manufacturing of high-end processors is becoming ever more expensive with each advance in technology. The huge outlay in buildings and machinery, as well as years of research and development, runs into tens of billions of dollars. However, one report claims that TMSC plans to raise the price for its next-generation N2 process node so much that processors made on it will have to be a lot more expensive to cover the cost.
That’s according to China Times (via Dan Nystedt on X), which claims that industry sources have told them that the price for TSMC’s N2 process node will be more than 50% higher than N3. It notes that the Taiwanese firm’s current best node, N3P, is around 20% higher than the previous generation N5.
Price increases in semiconductor wafer manufacturing are inevitable, especially when it concerns the very best process nodes. That’s because all of the equipment used to make the wafers has to be better than the apparatus used for earlier nodes. For example, Dutch company ASML develops and makes the photolithographic machines used in wafer making, and its latest and greatest system costs a cool $400 million per unit.
While TSMC doesn’t use ASML’s latest high-NA EUV system, it’s still spending billions of dollars a year on research and development, as well as building new fabrication plants for its cutting-edge process nodes, and the costs behind these aren’t getting any smaller.
