TSMC is rumored to have new moves in raising its wafer foundry quotes. The market reported yesterday (the 25th) that some IC design companies received notices from TSMC at noon yesterday, stating that the price hike would "take effect immediately," earlier than the originally scheduled increase in the fourth quarter, with a maximum increase of up to 20%, higher than the previously rumored average increase of over 10%. The new quotes would also apply to products that have already been ordered but not yet shipped.

 TSMC declined to comment on the price hikes and related market rumors yesterday; however, the news had quickly spread throughout the industry. There is also a theory that this is an extension of TSMC's originally planned price increase strategy for the fourth quarter, except that TSMC notified its major clients of the price adjustment plan before yesterday and began informing small and medium-sized clients sequentially after noon yesterday, resulting in a time difference.

 "Effective immediately" serves as a reminder to customers of an instant price change, with "output time" as the demarcation criterion. Based on current orders, since the output time will fall in the fourth quarter, the new prices will apply.

 Fueled by persistent rumors of price hikes, TSMC's stock price continued to rebound yesterday, closing at NT$586, up NT$13. Foreign investors net bought 6,154 lots for two consecutive days, propelling TSMC's market capitalization back above NT$15 trillion. After the shareholders' meeting, TSMC's stock price experienced sustained corrections due to net selling pressure from foreign investors, coming close to testing its annual support level last week. Over the past three trading days, it has rebounded strongly by NT$33, challenging its quarterly average. TSMC's ADR rose more than 6% in early trading on Wednesday.

 As wafer foundry capacity falls short of demand, it was previously reported in the industry that major manufacturers such as UMC, VisEra, and Samsung began communicating with customers about continuous price hikes starting from the fourth quarter of last year, while TSMC maintained a "price freeze" in the first half of this year and absorbed the pressure of rising semiconductor production costs. Recently, it has finally been reported that TSMC plans to reflect these costs by raising prices and hopes that customers will "share the burden together," which comes as no surprise to the industry.

 The supply chain has pointed out that since July this year, semiconductor materials, wafer carriers, and even consumables from Japan have seen a comprehensive price increase ranging from 10% to 20%. Given TSMC's scale of operations, although it has more flexibility than smaller manufacturers, its production costs are still rising rapidly. Now, as the electronics industry enters its traditional peak season, it is a natural phenomenon to increase quotes by 10% to 15% for urgent or extremely urgent orders from customers. Additionally, with many customers placing additional orders, it is reasonable to calculate these follow-up orders based on higher production costs.

 It was previously rumored in the industry that TSMC would initiate price hikes starting from the fourth quarter, with a 10% increase for advanced processes and a 20% increase for mature processes. Yesterday, it was further reported that TSMC had notified some customers in advance of the price increases, with the new quotes taking immediate effect. Industry insiders pointed out that many IC design companies received TSMC's price hike notifications around noon yesterday, which took effect immediately, with a 20% increase for mature processes and a 10% increase for advanced 5-nanometer and 6-nanometer processes.

 An unnamed IC design company privately revealed that TSMC rarely raises prices, but this time it has increased them by 20% in one go, making it difficult for IC design firms to absorb the rising cost pressure on their own, so they will inevitably have to adjust their quotes to customers to reflect the new costs.