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TSMC cuts prices by 10% for its manufacturing process without warning. Senior executive reveals surprising secrets

Daniel Nenni

Admin
Staff member
TSMC's 7nm capacity utilization rate has declined, and it is reported that it will cut prices by 5 to 10%.  Picture/Photo from this newspaper’s data

TSMC's 7nm capacity utilization rate has declined, and it is reported that it will cut prices by 5 to 10%. Picture/Photo from this newspaper’s data

[China Times News Network Guo Yixin] It has recently been reported that TSMC will reduce prices for its mature processes next year, but supply chain news points out that the process for which TSMC will actually reduce prices is actually 7nm, with a range of about 5 to 10% to alleviate the decline in capacity utilization. status. In fact, we can get a clue from TSMC’s October conference that the 7nm capacity utilization level is lower than expected.

Liberty Times reported that the price reduction for mature processes reported by the media is actually only a discount on some photomask costs, and the foundry price has not been reduced. In addition, the real price reduction is for the 7-nanometer process, with a price reduction range of 5 to 10%, depending on the customer's production volume. Decide.

As early as October, TSMC President Wei Zhejia was asked face-to-face by foreign investors about the declining 7-nanometer capacity utilization rate. The revenue share of 7-nanometer continued to decline in the third quarter, from 23% in the second quarter. to 17%, which is much lower than the 26% in the same period last year.

At that time, Wei Zhejia admitted that the decline in 7-nanometer capacity utilization was indeed beyond the company's original expectations. It was originally expected to maintain high-end levels and full-capacity production, but due to the sharp decline in shipments in the mobile phone market and the delay in product launches by major customers , affecting capacity utilization.

Even so, Wei Zhejia also mentioned that demand for consumer electronics will rebound in the next few years, and he is working hard to improve 7nm capacity utilization through special processes. The current situation of 7nm is different from that of 22/28nm from 2018 to 2019. What happens in the manufacturing process is similar.

 
Questions to the experts on this forum: is this current decline on 7nm actually surprising?

My understanding is the initial users of 7nm node are likely the ones who try to be on the most advanced node at any time. These customers have moved on to newer processes now, leaving a gap on 7nm for others to fill. Even if the TSMC 7nm process was intended to be a long-term high end node, the companies who step in will probably need some time to finalize their products.
I would therefore expect an S-shaped utilization curve for high-end production node (meaning demand will pick up again after a while). This includes a "dip" once the initial customers move on.
 
Questions to the experts on this forum: is this current decline on 7nm actually surprising?

My understanding is the initial users of 7nm node are likely the ones who try to be on the most advanced node at any time. These customers have moved on to newer processes now, leaving a gap on 7nm for others to fill. Even if the TSMC 7nm process was intended to be a long-term high end node, the companies who step in will probably need some time to finalize their products.
I would therefore expect an S-shaped utilization curve for high-end production node (meaning demand will pick up again after a while). This includes a "dip" once the initial customers move on.

Samsung did well at 7nm so there is a competitive issue. Most customers moved to TSMC at N5/4 since Samsung did not yield. At N3 TSMC has a monopoly since Samsung went to GAA and Intel 3 is behind TSMC.

TSMC is showing a much more competitive strategy than prior years and that should include pricing. We have a wafer oversupply now and TSMC has the biggest margins in the business so let the price war begin! I did hear that overall fab utilization is up to 80% from 70% earlier in the year. However, dozens of fabs are going online in 2024/25 so that should drop utilization a bit, absolutely.
 
Before the chip squeeze during COVID TSMC did revise their prices regurlarly and they always went down. The price hike during that time has been the only exception I know of and surprised all in the field I know.
More recent nodes typically get more price decrease even in relative terms (e.g. %) than maturer nodes.
I'm not so sure this news is actually something special, it seems more a return to normal business operation to me.
 
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