TSMC has declared that it has no immediate plans to build fabrication plants in the Middle East, reinforcing its strategy to focus on regions where customer demand is strong. Last week's rumors that TSMC might establish a gigafab in the United Arab Emirates have been dismissed by company executives as baseless. CEO CC Wei explained that an expansion into the Gulf does not fit with TSMC's model of locating factories near its largest clients. With ongoing investments in the US, Japan, and Germany, the company aims to serve technology leaders and automotive manufacturers more effectively. Wei added that, without a solid local customer base, building in the Middle East would be impractical. At the same time, TSMC indicated it is reviewing wafer pricing. Fluctuations in the Taiwanese dollar and changing global tariffs were cited as factors under consideration.

According to Wei, long-term agreements could include modest price increases, especially for advanced process nodes, where research and development costs and manufacturing challenges are rising. Looking ahead, TSMC confirmed that the upcoming A14 1.4 nm node wafers are expected to be priced around $45,000 each. This would represent a 50 percent increase over the current 2 nm wafers, which cost about $30,000 apiece. Production of the 1.4 nm node is projected to begin around 2028. Only TSMC's top-tier customers are likely to reserve capacity for this cutting-edge node in its early stages. As demand for advanced semiconductors rises, the company's approach to pricing and geographic focus will be key to maintaining its leadership in the global foundry market.

We wanted to give you a quick update on the estimated shipping schedule for our upcoming CRKD Gibson Les Paul Guitar Controller. Over the past few weeks, we've run into some inbound component delays with our manufacturing partner—largely due to ongoing uncertainty around international tariffs and broader supply chain challenges. As a result, we're making a slight adjustment to our estimated shipping windows to finalize production and better navigate the current logistics environment.

While we've taken steps to mitigate the impact of tariffs, a portion of these costs must be passed on. All U.S. pre-orders placed before June 1 will be honored at their original price. International pricing remains unchanged at this time. All pre-orders placed before June 1 on crkd.gg—U.S. and international—will also receive a complimentary CRKD Gradient Guitar Strap and Collector's Pin.

A month ago, Sony increased its PlayStation 5 home console prices for EMEA and ANZ regions—affecting customers in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. At the time, industry experts surmised that company leadership was considering a similar strategy for a primary market: North America. Instead of freshly implemented 25% upward hikes for certain products/packages, reports suggested a 30% climb—for the North American market. Weeks later, company leadership has discussed this hot topic. During yesterday's (projected) earnings call with investors, top brass confirmed their consideration of "passing along" additional costs to consumers—in response to a reported/anticipated 100 billion yen (~$680 million) impact from US tariffs. They outlined a stockpile of PS5 consoles; enough units have been accumulated for roughly three months of supply—unaffected by adjusted conditions, in the States.

Despite this provision, Hiroki Totoki—Sony's president/CEO—is open to exploring alternative production avenues, in the face of looming extra charges. When asked about this matter, he replied with: "hardware can of course be produced locally, I think that would be an efficient strategy. PS5 is being manufactured in many areas, whether it is going to be manufactured in the US or not—it needs to be considered going forward." In efforts to navigate a trying situation, Nintendo has juggled its geographic manufacturing footprint—recent-ish developments have shifted away from a complete reliance on Chinese facilities. Industry insiders reckon that the bulk of US-bound Switch 2 units will be Vietnamese-made. Like Sony, Nintendo's executive team has publicly disclosed thoughts about future price hikes—maybe following the launch of its much-anticipated "next-gen" hybrid console. Earlier this month, Microsoft upped modern Xbox portfolio price tags—affecting customers across the world.

Nintendo's Switch 2 hybrid console is set to arrive early next month (June 5), complete with promised launch prices. Early last month, the company's basic cost of entry for next-gen access—$450 (US)—seemed to be on tenuous ground. Nintendo and its retail partners decided to postpone their opening of pre-orders—affecting excited customers in the United States, then (days later) in Canada. Thanks to political posturing, a number of big industry players had to restrategize. Late last week, Microsoft announced their implementation of global Xbox Series price increases. In April, Sony revealed similar changes for PlayStation 5; restricted to select market territories. Nintendo has allowed a re-opening of Switch 2 pre-orders; gamers can secure core hardware at original MSRPs. Unfortunately, a compromise was made—first-party Switch 2 accessories will be more expensive, on launch day and beyond.

During a recent call with investors, Nintendo's president—Shuntaro Furukawa—confirmed that their core hardware pricing is subject to change. Launch price tags are safe (for the moment); the company will need to radiate some goodwill during their next-gen design's salad days. Commenting on a shifting political landscape, Furukawa-san stated: "at this time, the top priority is to quickly popularize the Switch 2 hardware...If the assumptions regarding tariffs change significantly, we would like to consider what price adjustments we should make, and implement them after considering various factors." Industry analysis has produced a scary projection; worst case scenarios could send tech prices up by roughly 70%. Considering the vintage of Switch 2's alleged internals, gaming hardware enthusiasts have questioned the value offered by this $450 hybrid handheld.

Earlier today, industry moles in South Korea have heard whispers about Samsung Electronics planning a new pricing strategy for NAND and DRAM product lines. According to an MK news articles, local sources believe that company leadership will: "raise memory chip prices—by 3-5% from the current level—for major global customers. It is reported that some customers have already begun contract negotiations that reflect the increase conditions." Regional watchdogs posit that the megacorporation is reacting to very current geopolitical tensions (i.e. tariffs). Earlier this week, a main rival—Micron—informed customers about forthcoming memory price increases. Naturally, the North American memory chip giant is not "fully" affected by recent seismic shifts. A "significant growth demand" has caused jacked up charges—effective across DRAM, NAND flash, and HBM portfolios—projected throughout 2025 and 2026.

Returning to South Korean shores and Samsung, one unnamed semiconductor insider opined to MK: "oversupply continued throughout last year, but supply has recently decreased as major companies have begun to reduce production...In addition, artificial intelligence (AI) devices are appearing one after another in China, and demand for semiconductors is gradually increasing due to industrial automation." DRAMeXchange—an appropriately named market research organization—has kept track relevant trends. As disclosed by the MK news piece—as of last month, general-purpose DRAM DDR4 prices: "remained flat for the fourth month in a row." Looking at conditions for DDR5 (used in high-performance PCs and enterprise equipment), prices soared by 12%. DRAMeXchange observed NAND costs rising by 9.6%: "continuing an upward trend for the third consecutive month."

In a letter to customers, Micron has announced upcoming memory price increases extending through 2025 and 2026, citing persistent supply constraints coupled with accelerating demand across its product portfolio. The manufacturer points to significant demand growth in DRAM, NAND flash, and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) segments as key drivers behind the pricing strategy. The memory market is rebounding from a prolonged oversupply cycle that previously depressed revenues industry-wide. Strategic production capacity reductions implemented by major suppliers have contributed to price stabilization and subsequent increases over the past twelve months. This pricing trajectory is expected to continue as data center operators, AI deployments, and consumer electronics manufacturers compete for limited memory allocation.

In communications to channel partners, Micron emphasized AI and HPC requirements as critical factors necessitating the price adjustments. The company has requested detailed forecast submissions from partners to optimize production planning and supply chain stability during the constrained market period. With its pricing announcement, Micron disclosed a $7 billion investment in a Singapore-based HBM assembly facility. The plant will begin operations in 2026 and will focus on HBM3E, HBM4, and HBM4E production—advanced memory technologies essential for next-generation AI accelerators and high-performance computing applications from NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, and other companies. The price increases could have cascading effects across the AI and GPU sector, potentially raising costs for products ranging from consumer gaming systems to enterprise data infrastructure. We are monitoring how these adjustments will impact hardware refresh cycles and technology adoption rates as manufacturers pass incremental costs to end customers.

NVIDIA's CEO Jensen Huang said on June 5th that TSMC's stock price is too low, and he agrees with new TSMC chairman C. C. Wei's idea about TSMC's value. Jensen promised to support TSMC in charging more for their wafers and a type of packaging called CoWoS. An article from TrendForce says that NVIDIA and TSMC will talk about chip prices for next year, which could help TSMC make more money. Jensen also said he's not too worried about problems between countries because Taiwan has a strong supply chain; TSMC is doing more than just making chips, they're handling many supply chain issues too.

Last year, many companies were waiting for TSMC's products, ever-increasing demand and production issues causing delays. Even though things got a bit better this year, there's still not enough supply. TSMC says that even making three times more 3-nanometer chips isn't enough, so they need to make even more. NVIDIA's profits are very high, much higher than other companies like AMD and even TSMC. If TSMC raises prices for these advanced processes, it won't hurt NVIDIA's profits much, but it might lower profits for other companies like Apple, AMD, and Qualcomm. It will also have an impact on end-users.

TrendForce's latest report reveals that despite DRAM suppliers' efforts to trim inventories, they have yet to reach healthy ranges. As they continue to improve their lose situations by boosting capacity utilization rates, the overall demand outlook for this year remains tepid. Additionally, significant price increases by suppliers since 4Q23 are expected to further diminish the momentum for inventory restocking. As a result, DRAM contract prices for the second quarter are projected to see a modest increase of 3-8%.

The shift toward DDR5-compatible CPUs is set to drive an increase in PC DRAM demand in the second quarter. As manufacturers move toward more advanced, cost-efficient production processes for DDR5, their profitability is expected to rise significantly. This anticipation of higher DRAM prices in 1H24 has led to suppliers to aim for price increases in Q2, targeting a 3-8% hike in PC DRAM contract prices. Notably, even though DDR5 prices have already seen a notable rise in Q1—exceeding the average increase for other products—the expected emergence of AI PC demand may lead to a slight moderation in DDR5 price increases in Q2.

Russian business news outlet Kommersant has learned from industry figures that prices of natively-designed computer processors have been on the rise since the beginning of 2023. Domestic manufacturers of PC, server and storage systems are requiring greater supplies of CPUs designed by Baikal Electronics and MCST - the publication posits that growing demand and logistical issues have become the root cause of recent climbs in cost - individuals involved in the computer hardware supply chain have suggested that some processor models have doubled in price. Sergey Ovchinnikov, the chief executive of Norsi-Trans (a server and data storage firm) provided comment: "Production of Russian chips at foreign fabs has become more complex, leading to extended logistics chains and, consequently, an increase in the cost of the final component." International trade sanctions have not prevented the arrival of fresh silicon into the region - Ovchinnikov claims that an unnamed foundry is able to supply (likely via proxy) Russian developers with computer processors.

Kommersant's investigation found out that Baikal's BE-T1000 CPU is now sold for roughly $110 (8900 Rubles) at a popular computer hardware e-tailer (ChipDip) in the region. The very basic dual core MIPS32r5 (28 nm) processor was readily available for $50 (3990 rubles) back in 2018, so its price has risen by 220% in recent times. TSMC was contracted as the manufacturer of Baikal's BE-T1000 CPU, and the Taiwanese foundry started producing these SoCs in 2016. A Baikal Electronics representative has denied any involvement in driving up MSRP, and states that it is up to distributors and retail outfits to determine prices. The company suspects that very old stock is being sold at inflated rates - Kommersant was unable to contact anyone at ChipDip for a statement.

Sega Sammy Holdings CEO Haruki Satomi and CFO Koichi Fukazawa were took part in a Q&A session last month, as a follow-on to the company releasing its financial reports for the past fiscal year. An English translation of the event's notes has only just become available this week, with news outlets picking up on a key item - computer game pricing. General life costs have been climbing in recent times, and games publishers have been adjusting MSRPs due to the rising expense of developing new content, especially in the AAA sector.

The Sega executive team has noticed this industry trend and is pondering over the options - the session notes state: "In the global marketplace, AAA game titles for console have been sold at $59.99 for many years, but titles sold at $69.99 have appeared in the last year...We would like to review the prices of titles that we believe are commensurate with price increases, while also keeping an eye on market conditions." Nintendo has recently joined the likes of Sony, Activision, 2K and Ubisoft in bumping up MSRP to $70, but this pricing decision has only affected the latest Legend of Zelda title - Tears of the Kingdom. Nintendo of America's CEO Doug Bowser defended the move (prior to the game's release) - he argued that the direct sequel to Breath of the Wild would offer fantastic value for money.

EK, the premium liquid cooling gear manufacturer, has issued a statement for its loyal customer base regarding the upcoming changes in the pricing of certain products: Dear and valued EK customers. In light of full transparency, we wanted to inform you of some changes that will be taking place in the coming weeks. Due to various factors like raw material sourcing difficulties, material prices, and labor costs, we will raise the prices of a selected range of our products.

These changes will occur on March 31, 2023, and the price increase will only affect certain products. Those prices will increase by 8% on average, applying to any selected product or product line our company currently offers.

Yesterday, we have reported that ASUS is officially increasing the prices of their graphics cards and motherboards, due to increased component and logistics costs. What the company meant by that was not exactly clear to everyone, as it looked like the company has adjusted to the current market prices exceeding the MSRP of components like graphics cards. The GPUs are today selling at much higher prices compared to the original MSRP and it is representing a real problem for consumers. Today, we get to see what is the underlying problem behind the announcement we saw yesterday and if we are going to see more of that in the close future.

According to the New York Times, the Chinese import tariff exemptions have expired with the arrival of a new year (2021) and we can expect the tariffs to start from 7.5%-25%, which will massively increase component costs. A Reddit user has noted that MSRP will increase about $80 for every major GPU manufacturer like ASUS, GIGABYTE, PNY, Zotac, etc. so we are expecting MSRP adjustment from other companies to follow just like ASUS did. The import tariff exemptions are also supposed to increase MSRPs of other PC components like motherboards, SSDs, PSUs, cases... everything without exemption. As a product of a trade war between China and the Trump administration, it remains a question will these tariffs get easier shortly, so consumers can afford their desired components.

Silicon wafers are definitely the best kind of wafers for us tech enthusiasts, but as we all know, required financial resources for the development and production of these is among the most intensive in development costs and R&D. It's not just about the cost of employing enough (and crucially, good enough) engineers that can employ the right tools and knowledge to design the processing miracles that are etched onto wafers; there's also the cost of good, old production as well. Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography Systems that are used for the production of silicon wafers are about the size of a city bus, and typically cost more than 100 million euros ($115.3 million) each. ASML, a Dutch company that specializes in this kind of equipment, announced this year it was expecting to see a 25% revenue growth for 2017. Increased demand for these systems - and added cost of development of ever increasingly small and complex etchings in wafers - means this sector is seeing strong growth. But where there is strong growth, there is usually high demand, and high demand means higher strain on supply, which may sometimes not be able to keep up with the market's needs.

This is seemingly the case for wafer pricing; as demand for wafer production has been increasing, so to are prices. Faced with increased demand, companies are usually faced with a tough question to answer in regards to the correct course of action. Usually, it goes like this: higher demand at the same supply level means higher pricing. However, if supply isn't enough to satisfy demand, manufacturers are losing out on potential increased sales. This leads most companies to increase supply relative to demand, but always with lower projected output than demand requires, so they can bask in both increased ASP (Average Sale Price) and higher number of sales. This has been the case with DRAM memory production for some time now: and is happening with 300 mm silicon wafers as well.