TSMC has raised its wafer prices for the foundry’s third-generation process node.
TSMC is currently manufacturing its cutting-edge application processors (APs) using its third-generation 3nm process node (N3P). It’s the same process node used by the world’s largest foundry to build the Apple A19 and A19 chipsets that power the new iPhone 17 series. TSMC will also use the same process node to build other APs for high-end phones such as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite 5 and MediaTek’s Dimensity 9500.
A new report in the China Times, a daily Chinese-language newspaper, mentions that Qualcomm and MediaTek are paying TSMC more for the silicon wafers used in the foundry’s N3P process. The paper says that MediaTek and Qualcomm are paying 24% more and 16% more to TSMC, respectively. It isn’t clear whether those increases are compared to TSMC’s second-generation 3nm node (N3E), which was used to build Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite and MediaTek’s Dimensity 9400 APs.
Since they have to pay TSMC the higher prices, Qualcomm and MediaTek will no doubt charge their customers more for their chips, which is why you might see Samsung raising its pricing for some of the phones in the Galaxy S26 series next year. The vivo X300, expected to be powered by the Dimensity 9500 AP, might also end up with a price increase.
If you’re wondering whether Apple paid the higher price for the 3nm wafers, the China Times report hinted that it did.
