TSMC expected to charge $45,000 for silicon wafers used to produce 1.4nm chips by 2028
Next year we should start to see flagship smartphones move from using application processors (AP) made with the 3nm process node to those made at 2nm. This will result in the use of smaller Gate-All-Around (GAA) transistors allowing more of them to fit inside an AP. Using vertical nanosheets stacked horizontally, GAA transistors surround the channel on all four sides reducing current leakage, improving the drive current, and enhancing the performance and energy efficiency of these SoCs.
Silicon wafers for 2nm production cost $30,000 which is a high price to pay for the underlying substrate on which chips are built in layers. Getting manufacturers to pay $30,000 for each wafer is hard enough; TSMC started accepting orders for 2nm chips on April 1st. But the price of silicon wafers is about to get even more prohibitive. According to China Times, when TSMC moves to its 1.4nm Angstrom process node, silicon wafer prices will rise 50% to a whopping $45,000 per wafer .
We probably won’t see TSMC churning out 1.4nm components until 2028 at the earliest and at $45K, only TSMC’s most well-heeled customers will be able to afford it. Luckily for the world’s largest foundry, some of its largest customers might not think twice about shelling out such a sum for a silicon wafer. The firms include Apple, Nvidia, AMD, and Broadcom.
Another big TSMC client, MediaTek, said that it would start taping out its 2nm chips during Q4 of this year. That is the final stage before a chip design is sent to the fab to be built and indicates that the fabless chip designer will continue to use the latest process nodes to compete for business from Android phone makers.
It is interesting to see that Apple typically values the performance of the iPhone above other aspects of the device. For example, even though Apple is well behind Google and Samsung in AI, the company made sure it was among the first to pay the higher wafer prices when TSMC started producing 3nm chips. TSMC’s 2nm timeline is probably behind Apple’s decision to use the foundry’s 3rd generation 3nm process node (N3P) on this year’s iPhone 17 line expected to be unveiled in September.
Apple will probably be among the first to pay $30,000 for 2nm production. The A20 and A20 Pro APs powering the iPhone 18 series could be the first 2nm chipsets found inside the iPhone. When the time comes for TSMC to schedule 1.4nm production in a few years, you can be sure that Apple will pay the $45,000 price for silicon wafers. It might do so begrudgingly, but it will pay the higher price to keep the iPhone’s performance ahead of the rest of the pack.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 AP powering the Galaxy S26 Ultra will also be produced using TSMC’s third generation 3nm chipset. The same process node will be used by MediaTek for its Dimensity 9500 AP.