TSMC Could Charge Up to 20% More for CoWoS Packaging Amid AI Crunch

TSMC is reportedly considering raising prices for its CoWoS (Chip on Wafer on Substrate) advanced packaging by as much as 20%, according to supply chain sources cited by Taiwan's Commercial Times. Foundries and outsourced packaging firms are apparently weighing another round of 10% to 20% increases, as CoWoS demand has spread beyond AI GPUs to server CPUs and custom ASICs, leaving a growing backlog of unfilled orders. TSMC hasn't confirmed anything yet.

Testing is turning into a bottleneck of its own. Nomura estimates, via Seoul Economic Daily, that NVIDIA's Blackwell takes roughly four times longer than Hopper in final testing, while Rubin could need seven times as long. Packages keep growing too, with TSMC already mass producing CoWoS-L at 5.5 times the reticle limit. Tool lead times have reportedly stretched from three to six months to as long as eight months. TSMC, which usually negotiates for discounts or extra features, apparently placed this year's equipment orders at existing prices instead, which says a lot about how tight things are. Read full story