TSMC CFO Huang Renzhao released a price increase signal: It will never surge four or five times at a time

[ Gearbest Technology News]Recently, TSMC Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Huang Renzhao made it clear in an interview with the media that global inflationary pressure is continuing to push up the company's manufacturing costs. He will not rule out price adjustments for chips in the future, but there will never be the extreme situation of “a four- or five-fold increase at one time” that the market is worried about.

TSMC

Huang Renzhao said bluntly, “Inflation has indeed caused (our) costs to rise.” The world's leading wafer foundry is facing the challenge of rising multiple costs: not only the construction of various production lines has pushed up capital expenditure and depreciation pressure, but the investment in R&D of advanced processes is astronomical. Previous market news said that TSMC’s capital expenditure in 2026 has moved closer to the upper limit of US$56 billion. High operating costs and capital expenditures for continued expansion are driving companies to make adjustments in pricing strategies.

Faced with market panic about whether prices will rise four or five times at a time, Huang Renzhao gave a clear negative answer: “What we reflect is our value.” He emphasized that TSMC has a solid “technological leadership” and “excellent manufacturing capabilities”, and price adjustments are a reasonable reflection of its own value, rather than sky-high prices.

In fact, the market has already given relevant warnings before. Last month, multiple media quoted supply chain news as saying that TSMC plans to increase its 3-nanometer process quotation again in the second half of 2026, by up to 15%, and may further increase by 5% to 10% in 2027. This is the fourth consecutive year that TSMC has been planning to raise prices. As early as the end of 2025, news came out in the industry: Starting from January 2026, advanced processes below 5nm will launch a four-year price increase plan, with an average annual increase of about 3% to 5%.

This statement comes at a time when TSMC’s performance continues to advance rapidly. In the first quarter of 2026, TSMC's revenue increased by 35.13% year-on-year to NT$1.13 trillion, setting another record high; its gross profit margin climbed to 66.25%. More importantly, advanced processes (7nm and below) account for 74% of its wafer revenue, of which high-performance computing (HPC/AI business) revenue accounts for as high as 61%, replacing smartphones as the largest source of revenue.