According to media reports, TSMC Chairman CC Wei personally delivered a significant notice to Apple’s headquarters, requesting that it accept the largest foundry price increase in recent years, while formally revoking Apple’s priority access to dedicated capacity. This marks a pivotal shift in their decade‑long “golden partnership.”
The key driver of this change is NVIDIA, which has surpassed Apple in certain quarters of 2025 to become TSMC’s top customer (note: Apple remains the largest customer in some quarters). NVIDIA now contributes about 13% of TSMC’s total revenue, with its high‑performance GPU orders consuming vast amounts of wafer capacity and serving as the core engine of TSMC’s revenue growth, steadily increasing its negotiating power.
Compounding the pressure, TSMC’s 2nm supply is tight, forcing the company to implement a four‑year consecutive price‑increase plan for advanced nodes starting in 2026. The hike is already in effect: the Apple A20 SoC unit price has reached $280, roughly 80% higher than the previous generation, making it the most expensive mobile chip in Apple’s history and further squeezing Apple’s profit margins.
TSMC is doubling down on the AI sector, with its AI‑related capital expenditure projected to hit a historic peak of $52–56 billion this year, heavily prioritizing capacity for AI‑chip demand. While Apple’s products are spread across more than ten TSMC fabs, giving it broader presence than NVIDIA, its short‑term leverage has significantly diminished.
It is worth noting that Apple remains TSMC’s largest customer overall, but its ability and willingness to accept price increases lag behind those of AI‑chip clients like NVIDIA. NVIDIA is focused on large‑wafer production using cutting‑edge nodes, deeply aligned with TSMC’s technology roadmap—a short‑term advantage that is hard to shake. Moreover, TSMC’s 2nm tape‑out volume is already 1.5 times that of the 3nm node at a comparable stage, intensifying the battle for capacity.
TSMC CFO Wendell Huang declined to comment on the change in customer ranking, an attitude that indirectly confirms a major reshuffle in the semiconductor landscape. Industry observers suggest that only when the AI boom subsides could Apple regain its leverage—a scenario TSMC believes is unlikely in the near term.
As noted by Apple Daily News: “Even the strongest giant can temporarily lose its exclusive VIP status when another company’s demand grows too large to ignore.” This AI‑driven capacity rebalancing is reshaping the power dynamics of the global semiconductor supply chain with far‑reaching implications.
ICgoodFind : TSMC’s capacity shift toward the AI sector has cost Apple its priority status, restructuring the industry landscape. Competition for supply‑chain influence will continue to intensify as AI demand evolves.
