According to Taiwanese media reports, recent news has come out in the IC design industry that TSMC, the leading wafer foundry, will resume offering small price discounts for some mature processes next year after three years.

Outsiders believe that even TSMC, which has relatively stuck to its stance, is willing to make some concessions on price. Other wafer foundries that have initiated different forms of price reductions due to declining utilization rates continue to face bargaining demands from clients and are under greater pressure.

As the leader in wafer foundries, TSMC has stable quotations and rarely increases or decreases in price. It usually offers "single-digit percentage" annual discounts to customers. Regarding the current rumors that TSMC provides price discounts for some mature processes, IC design industry pointed out that it is about 2%. TSMC declined to comment on issues related to price discounts.

Another IC design factory revealed that the discount method provided by TSMC is settled after the entire quarter's production is completed, and the discount will be offset from the photomask cost of the next quarter, so the second, third, and fourth quarters of next year will be used. Low-single-digit percentage discounts are available based on production volume.

Some IC design industry insiders believe that other wafer foundries have already followed the reversal of the semiconductor market and have successively launched measures such as direct price reductions for large orders, and free wafer production credits after reaching a certain order volume, in an attempt to increase utilization rates. Chinese factories Price cuts are earlier and more aggressive than those of Taiwanese manufacturers, and TSMC's quotations are relatively tough.

Nowadays, it is reported that TSMC has resumed discounts on some mature processes. Even if it is not a direct price reduction, it is still of symbolic significance. It will increase the quotation pressure for mature processes of other peers before the peak season in the second half of next year.

In the past few years, there was a major shortage of ICs. TSMC did not increase prices at first, but other peers' quotations increased significantly, which made its quotations relatively low, or even the lowest. TSMC continued to report that it would cancel discounts in 2021 and 2022, and in early 2023 it launched a rare price increase that had not been seen for many years, with rumored ranges ranging from about 3% to 6%.

However, the semiconductor boom has reversed, and the supply chain has begun to adjust inventory one after another in the second half of 2022. In the first half of this year, it was reported that TSMC had proposed an "increased feedback plan". As long as customers place an order of a certain amount, they will receive more investment in mature processes. Amount of tablets.

TSMC relies on advanced processes as its main source of revenue, accounting for more than 50% of its revenue. Mature processes are not the focus of its operations, but they are still one of the focuses of market attention. TSMC's advanced process revenue for the fourth quarter this year, including 7nm and more advanced processes, accounted for 59% of the total quarterly wafer sales.

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