The Price of U.S.-made chips by TSMC will increase by up to 30%
TSMC has invested $40 billion in its second US microchip manufacturing plant.
Demand for microchips has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years, driven by the rise of technology and digitisation in various industries. This has led to an increasing reliance on countries such as China and Taiwan, where most of the world’s production of these essential components is concentrated.
However, it has recently been announced that the price of chips manufactured by the Taiwanese company TSMC at its US plant will increase by 30 %. This news has caused great concern in the technology sector, as TSMC is one of the world’s leading chip suppliers.
Additional costs due to US regulations
According to leaked information, this increase in the price of US-made chips is due to the additional costs the company has had to bear in order to adapt to US regulations and standards. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States has intensified its policy of technological protectionism, which has led to the introduction of new measures and restrictions on the import of chips from other countries.
TSMC, aware of the importance of the US market, decided in 2020 to invest more than $12 billion in the construction of a chip plant in Arizona, the first outside Asia. However, the company has encountered a much more demanding regulatory environment than it expected, forcing TSMC to make significant investments (up to an additional $40 billion) to comply with US safety and environmental regulations at its second plant on US soil.
This situation has led to TSMC having to increase the price of its US-made chips to meet the additional costs it has incurred. This increase is expected to mainly affect the company’s US customers, who will see the price of the chips essential to their technology products rise.
However, it should be noted that TSMC remains one of the world’s leading chipmakers, and this price increase for US-made chips will not affect its entire production. In addition, the company has announced that it will continue to invest in its Arizona plant to increase its production capacity and improve its competitiveness in the US market.
