TSMC Plans to Raise Prices by 5% to 10% in Early 2027; Apple's iPhone 18 Series May See Price Hike

Chinese media outlet 'Kuaikeji' reported on Tuesday (21st) citing supply chain sources that TSMC initiated price negotiations in June and has completed talks with all customers this month, confirming a price increase for wafer foundry services effective from early 2027. The base price hike ranges from 5% to 10% across all product lines, covering advanced processes such as 7nm, 3nm, and 2nm.

The report identifies rising costs of raw materials and lithography equipment procurement, along with massive infrastructure expenditures from TSMC's new wafer fabs in the U.S. and Japan, as the core drivers behind the price adjustment. These factors have led to continuously increasing manufacturing costs. To provide downstream brands with a buffer period, the effective date has been deliberately postponed to 2027.

Additionally, customers placing high-performance computing (HPC) orders beyond their annual plans will need to pay an extra 10% to 15% premium.

Apple, as a major TSMC client, exclusively uses advanced process capacity for its in-house chips across iPhone Pro and Mac product lines. 2027 coincides with the key delivery cycle for the iPhone 18 series and the 20th-anniversary iPhone models. The new generation will fully transition to 2nm process, increasing the per-unit processor manufacturing cost by $10 to $20. If Apple later increases procurement of A20 Pro chip capacity, the overall manufacturing cost increase could exceed 10%.

Market research data shows that the bill of materials (BOM) for the top-tier iPhone 18 Pro Max has increased by nearly $300 compared to the previous generation, with the 2nm chip and flash memory price hikes being the two main drivers.

Previously, Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly stated that the pricing pressure from rising memory and chip costs is difficult to absorb, and that bearing the profit margin impact internally is extremely challenging. There is a high likelihood that these costs will be passed on to end consumers, making a retail price increase for all iPhone 18 Pro variants almost certain.