TSMC Mulls Up to 20% CoWoS Hike and 2027 Wafer Price Rise

TSMC and its OSAT partners are reportedly weighing another round of CoWoS price increases of 10% to 20%, according to a TrendForce report citing Commercial Times, Seoul Economic Daily via Nomura Securities, and Liberty Times. Separately, the foundry has finalized plans to raise wafer-out prices by 3% to 6% starting January 2027, with advanced nodes such as 2nm and 3nm seeing the steepest increases.

Equipment lead times have lengthened to six to eight months, up from three to six months. TrendForce reports TSMC placed orders at existing prices this year without seeking discounts or upgrades, a notable choice given the testing complexity feeding the squeeze: NVIDIA Blackwell's final testing takes an estimated four times as long as Hopper's, and Rubin could require seven times as long.

Monthly CoWoS capacity is expected to exceed 130,000 wafers in 2026 and target 200,000 in 2027. Goldman Sachs projects TSMC's CoWoS output at 1.275 million wafers in 2026, 2.73 million in 2027, and 3.48 million wafers in 2028. The pricing signal lands the same week SK Hynix posted a record Q3 profit, part of a dense run of AI infrastructure coverage in which pricing power keeps migrating up the accelerator supply chain.