PC Gamer is supported by its audience. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more
By published
Insert your choice of expletives here.
In a move that’s disappointing yet totally unsurprising, TSMC has reportedly infomed its customers that it plans to increase its prices. You know what that means. All of that expensive tech we love is about to get even more expensive. We need that like a hole in the head.
According to DigiTimes, TSMC has informed its largest customers including Nvidia and AMD that it plans to raise the prices of their chips by up to 20%. Of course, this will be passed onto the consumer meaning more expensive CPUs and GPUs. Are we even surprised at this point? It’s not like TSMC is struggling. Its quarterly profit rose 16.4% compared to a year earlier to $6 billion.
TSMC cites the usual factors as reasons for increasing prices. These include pandemic related shortages, material costs and even freight and logistics. The cost of equipment may indeed rise, as TSMC relies on companies like ASML for many of its foundry tools. ASML recently suffered a fire at its Berlin plant which temporarily halted shipments of advanced lithography equipment. In fariness, that’s the kind of thing that would slow expansion plans, not affect pricing in the short term.
AMD heavily relies on TSMC for its manufacturing. Its current and future CPUs and GPUs are all built with the now more expensive 7nm node, and its upcoming Zen 4 processors will use the even more capacity restrained 5nm node. The last thing AMD needs is price rises, as it fights a resurgent Intel which largely manufactures its products in house.
Even TSMC’s biggest customer, Apple isn’t immune and it has reportedly agreed to higher pricing to secure wafer starts for its next generation A16 SoC, which is built on a 4nm process and is scheduled to begin production later this year.
We can only hope that all of the billions being spent on increasing production will begin to deliver some good news for consumers and gamers. 2021 was the worst year for PC gaming. The way things are going, 2022 is shaping up to be even worse. We’ve been kicked where it hurts for too long.
Chris’ gaming experiences go back to the mid-nineties when he conned his parents into buying an ‘educational PC’ that was conveniently overpowered to play Doom and Tie Fighter. He developed a love of extreme overclocking that destroyed his savings despite the cheaper hardware on offer via his job at a PC store. To afford more LN2 he began moonlighting as a reviewer for VR-Zone before jumping the fence to work for MSI Australia. Since then, he’s gone back to journalism, enthusiastically reviewing the latest and greatest components for PC & Tech Authority, PC Powerplay and currently Australian Personal Computer magazine and PC Gamer. Chris still puts far too many hours into Borderlands 3, always striving to become a more efficient killer.
Sign up to get the best content of the week, and great gaming deals, as picked by the editors.
Thank you for signing up to PC Gamer. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
PC Gamer is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
© Future US, Inc. 11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10036.
