On October 2, news about semiconductors ushering in a cold winter once again hit the hot search. You should know that a year ago, people around the world were still worried about chip shortages, and many manufacturers even stocked up on chips in large quantities, resulting in the soaring chip prices. Chips that cost a few dollars can be sold for hundreds of yuan.
Thanks to this, leading OEM and equipment manufacturers such as TSMC and ASML have made a lot of money, especially TSMC, which has crushed a number of Internet giants and has reached the top in Asia's market value.
However, since entering 2022, the semiconductor industry has been on a roller coaster, and the shipments of the global chip market have continued to decline, and the prices of some chips have almost halved.
According to public information, in September alone, the average price decline of mature process chips exceeded 30%, while the price decline of some consumer electronic chips and automotive chips reached more than 80%. Industry insiders estimate that chip prices will be completely "avacantly" in 2023!
Faced with this situation, chip manufacturers such as Qualcomm , MediaTek , Nvidia have begun to cut orders, and mobile phone manufacturers such as Apple , Xiaomi , and OV are even more complaining. As the "No. 1 OEM", TSMC has also begun to taste the "bitter fruit" it has planted.
Everyone knows that TSMC has the priority purchasing rights for EUV equipment and holds more than 80 EUV lithography machines, which makes Samsung and Intel envious. When orders are sufficient, these EUV lithography machines are TSMC's "trump card" and the efficient production capacity brought by them allows TSMC to firmly sit in the top "stop" in the field of OEM.
However, due to the overcapacity of advanced processes, the utilization rate of TSMC's 5nm process plummeted, and the 3nm process was also temporarily suspended. The original advantage of the quantity of EUV equipment became a "burden" at this time due to the high operating and maintenance costs. In order to reduce power consumption, TSMC was forced to shut down some EUV lithography machines.
This has already made TSMC a "headache", but unexpectedly, it has been "sieged" by US chips such as Apple and Nvidia recently.
Things are like this. TSMC announced a decision not long ago that it will raise the price of each process technology in 2023, with an expected increase of between 10% and 20%. As for the matter, TSMC's price increase this time is not unreasonable. Although global chip shipments are declining, the cost of manual materials has been rising. In order to relieve pressure and increase the price of foundry, TSMC is understandable.
But who would have thought that as TSMC's largest customer, Apple was the first to jump out to "sing the opposite tune" and expressed its tough rejection. You should know that TSMC's price increase still opened a VIP for Apple, and only raised its price by 4%. It can be said that it is full of sincerity, but , Cook, is still unmoved.
Just when TSMC and Apple were in a stalemate, another major customer, Nvidia, also spoke out, threatening TSMC not to raise prices by "termination of cooperation". In addition, many other American chip manufacturers also complain about TSMC's price increase.
In fact, there is a reason why American chip companies refuse to raise prices, not only because semiconductors are in a cold winter, but also because the US has revised the rules and regulations, which makes them unable to ship to China freely.
After experiencing the "bottleneck" pain, my country's chip market began to increase investment in R&D and gradually put those controllable chips in the local area, which made Meixin's sales "intrinsic". Faced with this situation, how could American chip companies accept the increase in foundry prices?
For TSMC, if there is no compromise, Apple and other US chip companies will inevitably turn to Samsung or Intel, and this ending is unbearable; but if you admit defeat and acquiesce to Apple's approach, it will not only lose this part of the revenue from the price increase, but more serious is that you have no right to speak. With Meixin's style of acting, more unreasonable demands will inevitably follow in the future.
It is obvious that TSMC is now in a dilemma in the face of pressure from US chip companies.But it can only be said that it is self-rewarding.
Since following the footsteps of the United States, TSMC's major customers have basically become all American companies. Although Apple helped it fill the production capacity vacant by Huawei, the result is that TSMC's dependence on US chip orders has increased significantly, and the bargaining power has been lost.
You should know that Huawei was once TSMC's second largest customer, with revenue accounting for about 15%, second only to Apple, but unfortunately it was "abandoned" by TSMC. If there are checks and balances on Huawei's orders, why would TSMC be "bottled" by US chip companies such as Apple?
As the saying goes, "The sky will be mad, and the person will be mad, and the person will be mad, and the body will be mad, and the body will be mad, and the body will be misfortune." After experiencing these successive storms, TSMC may be able to recognize who is the real parents. I wonder if Liu Deyin and will still speak wildly like before, and underestimate the mainland market's business in TSMC's account for less than 10%?
