TSMC CEO C.C. Wei says, ‘It will be a long time before we can meet customer demand’

TSMC CEO C.C. Wei stated that it will be a long time before the company can fully meet customer demand for AI chips, despite expanding production facilities globally, including in Arizona. The insatia... Read original →

TSMC's capacity crunch signals AI chip demand has entered a nonlinear surge phase. Its heavy reliance on EUV for 3nm and beyond intensifies pressure on ASML’s tool deliveries and forces clients like NVIDIA and Apple to rethink architecture-process co-optimization. While the U.S. CHIPS Act accelerates Arizona fab ramp-up, geopolitical compliance inflates wafer costs by over 30% versus Taiwan, China—undermining TSMC’s no-sudden-hike pricing pledge. Intel is seizing this gap with its 18A/14A nodes, targeting second-tier customers, while Musk’s Terafab entry underscores a strategic shift: leading AI firms now seek vertical control beyond design. Within 18 months, the advanced-node shortfall will widen, turning 'capacity reservation rights' into a new battleground and potentially triggering the foundry industry’s first long-term agreements with built-in capacity-premium clauses.