AMD, Nvidia, VIA or SUN May Be Forced to Raise Prices

With the Computex computer show waiting to begin, the biggest news coming from Taiwan isn't related to any of the hardware manufacturers' product releases. Apparently, Taiwan is more concerned with a financial issue, one that could make GPU and processors manufacturers raise the prices for their products.

According to an article posted by Reuters earlier this week, top contract chip manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd might raise the prices on its higher-end chips due to rising costs that threaten the company's profits. The company said on Tuesday that it, alongside other semiconductor makers, is facing higher costs to build state-of-the-art chip plants for most cutting-edge chips and that it's also feeling the pain of rising inflation. In Taiwan, TSMC is the industry's leading and oldest player, holding more than three times the sales of its closest rival, UMC (United Microelectronics Corp).

"Average selling prices have been falling and profits have been under pressure, and we have to work together to create value", said Jason Chen, one of the company's vice presidents, in charge of global sales and marketing, at a TSMC technology symposium. He said that price changes will mostly include chips made using advanced process technology. He didn't specify how high the prices will be raised or when the company is planning to do this.

This means that GPU and processor manufacturers such as AMD, NVIDIA, VIA or SUN will also have to support the price raise. If UMC is to increase the prices for its products, it's highly likely that TSMC will do the same. According to analysts, cited by Reuters, the costs for building a factory capable of manufacturing chips on 18-inch wafers are around $10 billion, triple the price for current 12-inch wafer factories.