NVIDIA's CEO Jensen Huang said on June 5th that TSMC's stock price is too low, and he agrees with new TSMC chairman C. C. Wei's idea about TSMC's value. Jensen promised to support TSMC in charging more for their wafers and a type of packaging called CoWoS. An article from TrendForce says that NVIDIA and TSMC will talk about chip prices for next year, which could help TSMC make more money. Jensen also said he's not too worried about problems between countries because Taiwan has a strong supply chain; TSMC is doing more than just making chips, they're handling many supply chain issues too.

Last year, many companies were waiting for TSMC's products, ever-increasing demand and production issues causing delays. Even though things got a bit better this year, there's still not enough supply. TSMC says that even making three times more 3-nanometer chips isn't enough, so they need to make even more. NVIDIA's profits are very high, much higher than other companies like AMD and even TSMC. If TSMC raises prices for these advanced processes, it won't hurt NVIDIA's profits much, but it might lower profits for other companies like Apple, AMD, and Qualcomm. It will also have an impact on end-users.

TrendForce's latest report reveals that despite DRAM suppliers' efforts to trim inventories, they have yet to reach healthy ranges. As they continue to improve their lose situations by boosting capacity utilization rates, the overall demand outlook for this year remains tepid. Additionally, significant price increases by suppliers since 4Q23 are expected to further diminish the momentum for inventory restocking. As a result, DRAM contract prices for the second quarter are projected to see a modest increase of 3-8%.

The shift toward DDR5-compatible CPUs is set to drive an increase in PC DRAM demand in the second quarter. As manufacturers move toward more advanced, cost-efficient production processes for DDR5, their profitability is expected to rise significantly. This anticipation of higher DRAM prices in 1H24 has led to suppliers to aim for price increases in Q2, targeting a 3-8% hike in PC DRAM contract prices. Notably, even though DDR5 prices have already seen a notable rise in Q1—exceeding the average increase for other products—the expected emergence of AI PC demand may lead to a slight moderation in DDR5 price increases in Q2.

Russian business news outlet Kommersant has learned from industry figures that prices of natively-designed computer processors have been on the rise since the beginning of 2023. Domestic manufacturers of PC, server and storage systems are requiring greater supplies of CPUs designed by Baikal Electronics and MCST - the publication posits that growing demand and logistical issues have become the root cause of recent climbs in cost - individuals involved in the computer hardware supply chain have suggested that some processor models have doubled in price. Sergey Ovchinnikov, the chief executive of Norsi-Trans (a server and data storage firm) provided comment: "Production of Russian chips at foreign fabs has become more complex, leading to extended logistics chains and, consequently, an increase in the cost of the final component." International trade sanctions have not prevented the arrival of fresh silicon into the region - Ovchinnikov claims that an unnamed foundry is able to supply (likely via proxy) Russian developers with computer processors.

Kommersant's investigation found out that Baikal's BE-T1000 CPU is now sold for roughly $110 (8900 Rubles) at a popular computer hardware e-tailer (ChipDip) in the region. The very basic dual core MIPS32r5 (28 nm) processor was readily available for $50 (3990 rubles) back in 2018, so its price has risen by 220% in recent times. TSMC was contracted as the manufacturer of Baikal's BE-T1000 CPU, and the Taiwanese foundry started producing these SoCs in 2016. A Baikal Electronics representative has denied any involvement in driving up MSRP, and states that it is up to distributors and retail outfits to determine prices. The company suspects that very old stock is being sold at inflated rates - Kommersant was unable to contact anyone at ChipDip for a statement.

Sega Sammy Holdings CEO Haruki Satomi and CFO Koichi Fukazawa were took part in a Q&A session last month, as a follow-on to the company releasing its financial reports for the past fiscal year. An English translation of the event's notes has only just become available this week, with news outlets picking up on a key item - computer game pricing. General life costs have been climbing in recent times, and games publishers have been adjusting MSRPs due to the rising expense of developing new content, especially in the AAA sector.

The Sega executive team has noticed this industry trend and is pondering over the options - the session notes state: "In the global marketplace, AAA game titles for console have been sold at $59.99 for many years, but titles sold at $69.99 have appeared in the last year...We would like to review the prices of titles that we believe are commensurate with price increases, while also keeping an eye on market conditions." Nintendo has recently joined the likes of Sony, Activision, 2K and Ubisoft in bumping up MSRP to $70, but this pricing decision has only affected the latest Legend of Zelda title - Tears of the Kingdom. Nintendo of America's CEO Doug Bowser defended the move (prior to the game's release) - he argued that the direct sequel to Breath of the Wild would offer fantastic value for money.

EK, the premium liquid cooling gear manufacturer, has issued a statement for its loyal customer base regarding the upcoming changes in the pricing of certain products: Dear and valued EK customers. In light of full transparency, we wanted to inform you of some changes that will be taking place in the coming weeks. Due to various factors like raw material sourcing difficulties, material prices, and labor costs, we will raise the prices of a selected range of our products.

These changes will occur on March 31, 2023, and the price increase will only affect certain products. Those prices will increase by 8% on average, applying to any selected product or product line our company currently offers.

Yesterday, we have reported that ASUS is officially increasing the prices of their graphics cards and motherboards, due to increased component and logistics costs. What the company meant by that was not exactly clear to everyone, as it looked like the company has adjusted to the current market prices exceeding the MSRP of components like graphics cards. The GPUs are today selling at much higher prices compared to the original MSRP and it is representing a real problem for consumers. Today, we get to see what is the underlying problem behind the announcement we saw yesterday and if we are going to see more of that in the close future.

According to the New York Times, the Chinese import tariff exemptions have expired with the arrival of a new year (2021) and we can expect the tariffs to start from 7.5%-25%, which will massively increase component costs. A Reddit user has noted that MSRP will increase about $80 for every major GPU manufacturer like ASUS, GIGABYTE, PNY, Zotac, etc. so we are expecting MSRP adjustment from other companies to follow just like ASUS did. The import tariff exemptions are also supposed to increase MSRPs of other PC components like motherboards, SSDs, PSUs, cases... everything without exemption. As a product of a trade war between China and the Trump administration, it remains a question will these tariffs get easier shortly, so consumers can afford their desired components.

Silicon wafers are definitely the best kind of wafers for us tech enthusiasts, but as we all know, required financial resources for the development and production of these is among the most intensive in development costs and R&D. It's not just about the cost of employing enough (and crucially, good enough) engineers that can employ the right tools and knowledge to design the processing miracles that are etched onto wafers; there's also the cost of good, old production as well. Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography Systems that are used for the production of silicon wafers are about the size of a city bus, and typically cost more than 100 million euros ($115.3 million) each. ASML, a Dutch company that specializes in this kind of equipment, announced this year it was expecting to see a 25% revenue growth for 2017. Increased demand for these systems - and added cost of development of ever increasingly small and complex etchings in wafers - means this sector is seeing strong growth. But where there is strong growth, there is usually high demand, and high demand means higher strain on supply, which may sometimes not be able to keep up with the market's needs.

This is seemingly the case for wafer pricing; as demand for wafer production has been increasing, so to are prices. Faced with increased demand, companies are usually faced with a tough question to answer in regards to the correct course of action. Usually, it goes like this: higher demand at the same supply level means higher pricing. However, if supply isn't enough to satisfy demand, manufacturers are losing out on potential increased sales. This leads most companies to increase supply relative to demand, but always with lower projected output than demand requires, so they can bask in both increased ASP (Average Sale Price) and higher number of sales. This has been the case with DRAM memory production for some time now: and is happening with 300 mm silicon wafers as well.