[News] TSMC Reportedly Advises IC Designers of Mature-Node Price Hikes Effective Jan. 2027; Single-Digit Increase Expected

AI-driven demand is increasingly extending beyond leading-edge nodes, with pricing pressure now reaching mature processes. According to Economic Daily News, as TSMC continues to raise prices for advanced nodes such as 3nm amid fully booked capacity, the price hikes are now spreading to mature processes. Multiple IC design companies said they have recently received notices from TSMC indicating plans to raise prices for mature processes, with the adjustments expected to take effect in January 2027.

This would mark TSMC’s first price increase for mature processes in more than three years. The report notes that the size of the increase will vary by customer and product line, with final pricing expected to be determined in the fourth quarter. The increase is currently estimated to be in the single-digit percentage range.

Commercial Times also reports that foreign investment banks generally expect TSMC to raise prices in 2027. Nomura estimates that prices for the company’s 2nm, 3nm, and 5nm nodes will increase by 5%–10%, with both the scope and magnitude of the increases expected to expand further.

AI Demand Expands to Mature Processes

As Economic Daily News points out, TSMC’s reported plan to raise prices for mature processes suggests that the current AI boom is extending semiconductor demand beyond GPUs and high-performance computing (HPC) chips manufactured on advanced nodes to products such as power management ICs (PMICs) and power devices.

This shift is already driving broad-based price increases. According to TrendForce, foundry prices have risen across the board between the first and second quarters of 2026, with average increases ranging from 5% to 15%. The industry is also preparing a third round of price increases that could extend from the second half of 2026 into 2027.

Price increases are also spreading across the semiconductor supply chain. The Economic Daily News report notes that OSAT providers have also increased their prices, pushing chip production costs steadily higher. TSMC’s planned price increase in 2027 is expected to add further cost pressure for IC design companies and trigger another round of chip price increases.

The move could also strengthen the pricing power of other foundries. As highlighted by another report from Economic Daily News, UMC, PSMC, and Vanguard had already raised prices for mature processes several times before TSMC. With TSMC now reportedly following suit, mature-process foundries will be in a stronger position to pursue additional price increases.

Read more

• [News] NVIDIA Next-Gen Rosa CPU May Adopt TSMC A16 with Back-Side Power Delivery, Eyes 2028 Launch
• AI Component Capacity Squeeze and Foundry Output Cuts to Extend Mature-Node Price Increases in 2027, Says TrendForce
• [News] Japan’s Rapidus Takes on TSMC With Aggressive 2nm Pricing, Reportedly Targeting up to ¥3.5M per Wafer

(Photo credit: TSMC)