Rumor
AI power IC demand and capacity cuts by TSMC and Samsung drive potential 8-inch wafer price hikes
Wednesday, December 24, 2025 at 02:45 AM
Global 8-inch wafer capacity is projected to decline 2.4% year-over-year in 2026 as TSMC and Samsung scale back production. Simultaneously, surging demand for AI power management ICs is driving fab utilization toward 85-90%, prompting foundries to consider broad price hikes of 5% to 20% across mature nodes.
Context
TSMC and Samsung are aggressively scaling back 8-inch wafer production to focus on high-margin 12-inch advanced nodes, forcing a structural shift in the mature-node market. This pivot, combined with surging demand for AI-related power management ICs, is tightening global supply. Analysts project a 2.4% year-over-year decline in total 8-inch capacity for 2026, marking the start of a sustained contraction as older facilities are phased out.
The supply crunch is driving a sharp recovery in fab utilization, which is expected to reach 85–90% by 2026. Consequently, foundries are notifying customers of broad price hikes ranging from 5% to 20%. Tier-2 players like SMIC and VIS have already begun implementing 10% increases on specialized power processes. While AI infrastructure remains a robust tailwind, persistent weakness in consumer electronics and rising costs for advanced-node components may ultimately limit the ceiling for these pricing adjustments.
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