It was recently reported that TSMC will increase the price of chip production by up to 20% for its partners. But it is unlikely that all TSMC partners will receive the same treatment.
TSMC is known as a chip manufacturing partner for Apple, Qualcomm, Nvidia, Intel, and others. Of all those companies, Apple is apparently the biggest partner for TSMC so they won't feel a significant increase in chip prices.
According to a report by semiconductor analyst Lu Xingzhi, Apple accounted for one-fifth of TSMC's total revenue over the past three years. Because of this, TSMC will only increase chip prices by 3% for Apple, while other companies will still pay up to 20% more.
TSMC's favoritism to Apple isn't really surprising. The iPhone manufacturer is rumored to have ordered more than 100 million units of the A15 Bionic chip to ensure the iPhone 13 is not rare at launch, as quoted from TechSpot, Tuesday (7/9/2021).
A separate report from the Nikkei said the price hike for TSMC-made chips would continue into 2022, as would chip shortages. This is influenced by several factors including higher raw material prices and logistics costs.
It is feared that the increase in the price of chips will make the prices of cellphones and other gadgets go up because vendors may charge the cost to consumers. TSMC itself will increase chip prices by 10% for high-end chips and 20% for low-end chips.
This is predicted to make mobile phone vendors change their business strategy. Counterpoint Research analyst Dale Gai said vendors may increase the price of flagship phones to offset the impact of higher production costs for mid-range or lower-end phones.
The increase in the price of cellphones, computers and other gadgets due to the increase in chip prices is predicted to be quite significant. But the impact of the TSMC chip price hike is likely to be felt starting next year.
It is not known whether the 3% increase in chip prices will make the iPhone 13 and MacBook Pro M1X more expensive. We'll just have to wait until the launch of the iPhone 13 in the next few weeks.