TSMC to Raise Apple Chip Prices by Up to 10% in 2027

The cost of building the world’s most advanced chips is going up, and that bill will eventually find its way to consumers. TSMC, the Taiwan-based manufacturer that produces chips for Apple, Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, and Broadcom, is reportedly planning to raise its chip manufacturing prices by up to 10% starting in 2027, according to a Nikkei Asia report cited by Reuters. For some high-performance computing customers that exceed agreed production volumes, additional surcharges of 10% to 15% on top of the standard increase could also apply.

The reasons behind the hike are straightforward. TSMC is spending heavily to build fabrication plants outside Taiwan in Arizona, Japan, and Europe while simultaneously investing in next-generation 2nm manufacturing technology and meeting surging AI chip demand. Equipment costs, raw material prices, and the sheer scale of overseas expansion have pushed manufacturing costs higher, and TSMC is passing some of that pressure upstream to its customers.

Apple sits at the top of that customer list. Nearly every chip Apple ships, the A-series in iPhones, M-series in Macs and iPads, S-series in Apple Watch, comes from TSMC’s most advanced nodes. A 10% increase in wafer pricing translates directly into higher production costs for Apple’s entire silicon portfolio. Chips manufactured from 2027 onward, potentially including the A21 and M7 generations, would be affected if the pricing change proceeds as reported.

Whether Apple absorbs the increase, passes it to customers, or finds offsets elsewhere in the supply chain is the unanswered question. Given that Apple has already raised Mac and iPad prices in 2026 and iPhone component costs are climbing due to memory price surges, the headroom to absorb another cost increase without adjusting retail prices is narrowing. TSMC hasn’t officially confirmed the report, and Apple hasn’t commented. But the direction of travel is clear, making cutting-edge chips is getting more expensive, and 2027 device pricing will reflect that one way or another.

Source