The wafer foundry market has fully shifted to a "supplier‑driven pricing" model.
According to a report by South Korean media outlet Chosun Biz, driven by a surge in global artificial intelligence (AI) chip orders and persistent supply‑demand imbalances, the wafer foundry market has completely transitioned to a "supplier‑driven pricing" regime. Following industry leader TSMC's comprehensive price increases, Samsung Electronics has also adjusted its foundry pricing strategy.
Industry sources revealed that Samsung Electronics has recently issued price‑hike notices to new customers, planning to raise wafer foundry supply prices for certain specific processes by around 15%. Unlike TSMC's across‑the‑board increases, Samsung has adopted a more targeted approach, focusing on key process nodes that are currently experiencing the highest demand concentration. These include advanced 4nm and 5nm nodes, as well as certain 8nm processes used for automotive chips.
Prior to this, TSMC had already notified core clients such as NVIDIA, Apple, and AMD that, due to tight capacity for its 3nm, 5nm, and 7nm nodes for high‑performance computing (HPC), it planned to raise foundry prices by 5% to 10%.
Industry analysts point out that under the traditional foundry model, prices were typically maintained or gradually reduced once process yields stabilised. However, the current AI wave has upended this industry norm. The enormous capacity gap has handed pricing power back to the wafer foundries.