The leading foundry plans to take the opportunity of shortage in the semiconductor sector.
TSMC recently announced that it will invest USD 100 billion to expand its production capacity over the next three years as it aims to seize the opportunity of the short supply in the global semiconductor sector. The leading foundry in the world expected that there will be increased demand for electric vehicles (EV) and the 5G mobile communication system in near future. At present, the company has made plans to build a factory in Arizona in February, and a research and development subsidiary in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan.
According to a person familiar with the matter, the company also plans to increase the price of 12-inch wafers by 25% from April this year. It is worth mentioning that, at present, the price of silicon wafers, one of the most important upstream core materials of semiconductor products, is also increasing. In March 2021, Shin-Etsu Chemical, the world's largest semiconductor silicon chip manufacturer, announced that the price of all silicon products will be increased by up to 20% from April, which is its first price increase since 2017. We expect that the price change of TSMC wafers will come ahead of capacity expansion.