That semiconductor shorage you keep hearing about, yeah it’s about to get worse. TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor foundry, plans to raise the prices of its products.
Up until now, you’ve probably felt the shortage by struggling to buy anything that uses semiconductors — which is pretty much most tech products these days. The price increase from TSMC means that the few things you can find will now be more expensive.
According to The Verge, which cites a new report from The Wall Street Journal, TSMC plans to increase the price of its advanced chips by around 10% and its less advanced chips by about 20%.
It’s tough to say how the TSMC increase will directly affect the shelf price of the products you buy. That’ll depend on how much money the companies who buy those chips are willing to lose. Or, put a different way, how much less they’re willing to make.
You don’t directly buy semiconductors, but expect to pay more anyway
The Wall Street Journal‘s report doesn’t mention how the price hike will affect Apple specifically, for example. But given the fact that Apple needs TSMC’s chips to make the A-series and M-series SoCs for its iPhones, Macs and iPads, it’s almost a given. Apple makes less money on device sales by keeping the price the same or will it increase the price to make up for more expensive chips?
We’ve already heard from Intel that it isn’t just the silicon that’s affecting them. On top of that, they’re facing a substrate shortage as well, which is another ingredient of the processors in your PC or laptop.
Things aren’t looking good for the tech industry. If you want to upgrade your PC or need a new laptop, maybe consider waiting if you can help it. Like, with most things, it’ll probably get worse before it starts to get better.