TSMC to raise chip prices by up to 10% from 2027, pushing iPhone 18 Pro past RM9,000
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co will raise its contract chip prices by up to 10% from 2027, a move that will push the bill of materials for Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro up by at least RM400 to RM600 and lift the top-tier…
Source: idropnews.com · July 22, 2026 at 10:02 PM · AI-assisted report
CorroboratedKUALA LUMPUR, 23 JULY 2026 —
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co will raise its contract chip prices by up to 10% from 2027, a move that will push the bill of materials for Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro up by at least RM400 to RM600 and lift the top-tier model past RM9,000 in Malaysia for the first time, according to a Nikkei Asia report citing industry sources.
Market Impact
The increase covers advanced nodes such as 7-nanometre and more advanced processes, which generated 77% of TSMC’s April-June revenue. Customers face individual rates between 5% and 10%, with high-performance computing chips—including Apple’s flagship A-series and M-series designs—subject to an additional premium of up to 15%. TSMC told clients it needs the higher prices to offset rising costs for materials, manufacturing equipment and construction of new overseas chip plants.
Apple’s negotiating window appears to have closed. Sources said the chipmaker started price talks in June, giving Apple time to embed the increases into the next iPhone cycle. That aligns with Apple’s own June price adjustments on Mac, iPad, Vision Pro and Apple TV, while leaving iPhone and Apple Watch untouched ahead of their September launches.
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook told the company’s Q2 2026 earnings call that demand for Apple silicon had outstripped TSMC’s supply as AI firms snapped up capacity for custom accelerators. Cook said Apple can still buy DRAM and NAND at spot prices, but advanced logic nodes—fabricated exclusively by TSMC for Apple’s premium chips—are now the binding constraint.
TSMC is expanding aggressively to meet demand. The company plans to raise capital expenditure to US$40 billion in 2026, up from US$28 billion in 2025, mainly for new fabs in Arizona, Japan and Germany. Even so, the new plants will not produce the ultra-thin 7 nm and 5 nm nodes Apple needs until well into 2027.
Apple has begun diversifying to cushion the blow. The company has shifted some lower-end chip production to Intel under the U.S. CHIPS Act subsidies, which provide nearly US$10 billion in support. However, Intel’s first Apple-grade trial runs—such as the M7 and A21 chips—are not expected to reach production until late 2026, too late for the iPhone 18 Pro launch.
Analysts expect the price hikes to fall hardest on the Pro and Max variants. UBS estimates TSMC’s 2027 price increase will add RM150 to RM200 to the bill of materials for an iPhone 18 Pro. Samsung Electronics and Qualcomm, which share TSMC’s 5 nm and 4 nm lines, will face similar cost pressures, likely prompting their own price adjustments in late 2026 or early 2027.
For Malaysian consumers, the outlook is unambiguous: the iPhone 18 Pro will cost more when it launches in September 2026, and the single biggest driver is TSMC’s contract pricing.
Related: TSMC