TSMC’s Arizona chip plant could increase prices by as much as 30%, according to a report in the Taiwanese press. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang is currently in Taiwan, and the report quotes industry insiders commenting on Huang’s statements to the press, where he asserted that TSMC’s prices were fair due to the firm’s advanced technologies. Higher costs have been at the center of debate for TSMC’s Arizona site, with the firm’s founder, Dr. Morris Chang, and analysts pointing earlier to higher unit costs due to labor costs and supply chains since the project’s inception.
TSMC’s Arizona 4nm Products Could See A 30% Mark-up, Believe Industry Sources
After NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang landed in Taiwan for the Computex 2025 conference, a reporter asked him about the extra price that his firm might have to pay for chips manufactured in the US. In response, Huang refrained from sharing the specifics but added that “it doesn’t matter.”
According to the NVIDIA CEO, “TSMC’s pricing is consistent and fair for everyone.” He believes that the “technology necessary to build the fabs and also 2-nanometer process and beyond is incredibly expensive, incredibly hard. As a result, Huang believes that “whatever is the price, as long as it’s consistent and fair, that’s the price.”
After Huang’s comments, a report in the Taiwanese media quotes supply chain sources and insiders to share details about the costs of TSMC’s Arizona products and NVIDIA’s partnership with the company. TSMC is currently on track to mass produce the 2-nanometer manufacturing process node, which is the most advanced semiconductor process technology in the world.
According to the report, TSMC will increase chip prices across the board, including those of products manufactured at its US plant. The US site started manufacturing N4 process technology products in volume production last year. The sources suggest that these products will undergo a 30% price hike to reflect the higher costs of US manufacturing.
NVIDIA is also believed to be one of TSMC’s customers for the 2-nanometer process. Due to their inability to handle higher power workloads, chains made through TSMC’s leading-edge technologies are typically used for smartphone processors. Firms such as NVIDIA and AMD use them at later stages once the yield rates and power consumption have improved.
Along with higher supply chain and labor costs in the US, industry experts also believe that advanced chip manufacturing processes require more testing, which drives up their costs. These costs are reflected in the initial stages of test manufacturing, which suffer from lower yields.
TSMC’s founder, Dr. Morris Chang, and analysts have in the past commented on the higher manufacturing costs. In a 2021 talk, Chang commented that labor and cost advantages in Taiwan meant that TSMC might struggle in the US. A more recent report from 2024 saw Macquarie Bank posit that TSMC could face as much as 30% higher costs in US particularly due to the difficulties of establishing a chemical supply chain.
