Under the trend of lack of cores, the strategies of contract factories are different: TSMC is cautious in the radical price increase of UMC.

Recently, the semiconductor industry is full of doubts about the demand reversal because of the worry about the over-order in the lower reaches. However, the capacity of fabs is still in short supply, and the plan to raise prices has been put on the agenda again.

According to Taiwan's Electronic Times today, citing IC design sources, UMC has maintained its usual aggressive pace and plans to raise 22nm and 28nm process quotations three times in September, November and January next year. After the price increase of Q1 next year, UMC 28nm will quote US $2800-US $3000 and 22nm US $2900. The company has reached an agreement on the new price with MediaTek, Lianyong, Ruiyu and other customers.

Leading TSMC is also among the list of price increases this time, but it appears to be much more cautious. The company raised the price of 40nm and above in order to prevent customers from overbooking. As for the two processes of 22lap28, TSMC plans to suspend price increases in order to maintain customer relations. It is expected that the 28nm price of TSMC will remain at the level of US $2800 before Q1 next year, that is to say, the corresponding process price of UMC will exceed that of TSMC.

According to the above report, SMIC will also follow the price increase of Synchronize. In an institutional survey conducted at the beginning of this month, when asked about product price increases, the company said that, first, it would respect the contract and would negotiate with customers; second, it would follow the trend according to what happened in the market.

In addition, Xintang, a Huabang IDM plant, also reported a price increase last week, and the company plans to raise its wafer foundry offer by 15 per cent from September 1st. World Advanced has raised its offer twice in July, an increase of about 5%.

After a series of price increases, manufacturers' gross profit margins have risen one after another, and the performance of a number of Q2 companies has reached a new high. It is estimated that the combined revenue of Q3, TSMC, UMC, and the world's advanced wafer factories will grow by more than 10% month-on-month, and by more than 20% for the whole year.