Apple will feel additional pressure on its bottom line in the near future, as its principal chipmaker TSMC is planning to hike its prices as high as 10% in 2027, according to a new report from Nikkei Asia.
The Taiwanese chipmaker has reported held talks with its customers, saying they’ll be seeing base price increases of 5 to 10%, both for mature nodes and the more advanced nodes that Apple relies on for its A-Series and M-Series chips, used in the iPhone and Mac, respectively. The new pricing is set to take effect at the beginning of 2027.
For additional high-performance computing chip orders beyond customers’ original forecasts, the company plans to charge an extra 10% to 15% premium on top of the base increase. That means that advanced chip orders for high-performance chips could result in customers paying more than the extra 10%.
The increased prices are reportedly due to rising costs for materials, manufacturing equipment, and construction cost for new overseas chip plants.
TSMC is reportedly delaying the hikes until 2027 to give customers time to prepare for the price hikes. When contacted for comment by Nikkei Asia, the company declined to comment on the reported price increases, but told the publication that its general market approach was “strategic, not opportunistic.”
Apple is TSMC’s largest customer, as Apple relies on the firm for most of its most advanced chips. The timing comes at a bad time for Apple and the rest of the industry, as they will face the decision to either try and absorb the cost increases, or pass it on to customers. Apple is preparing to launch its iPhone 18 and iPhone 18 Pro lineups in the near future, which is expected to include a foldable iPhone. Apple is also preparing its 20th anniversary iPhone models. Apple increase proves across multiple product lines last month, citing the rising cost of memory and storage chips.