TSMC has revised the company's blueprint for capacity expansion, reducing its scale and slowing down its pace. However, the pure-play foundry is still evaluating the feasibility of raising quotes in the second half of the year, according to sources at fabless companies.
Since the fourth quarter of 2022, TSMC has received requests from customers to cut orders and postpone purchases, the sources said. TSMC has thus revised and scaled back its expansion goals after carefully assessing market supply and demand.
Nevertheless, TSMC intends to keep its foundry quotes consistent and stable, with the option of raising them, despite the current weak market conditions, the sources indicated.
TSMC's customers and suppliers historically have been asked to bear the brunt of increased manufacturing costs, and this year is no exception, the sources said. The foundry's quotes have long been psychologically predisposed to rise rather than fall.
Despite its solid prices in comparison to competitors, which tend to lower prices in order to compete for additional orders, TSMC maintains high customer adherence, particularly in the advanced sub-5nm process segment, the sources believe.
TSMC has made upward price adjustments since 2022 to respond to the ever-increasing production costs, according to previous reports. The foundry does not provide pricing information.
