TSMC’s chip capacity has become a real bottleneck for companies in the Artificial Intelligence race, and demand for the 3nm node is rising across major parts of the industry. GPU and CPU manufacturers, hyperscalers, and consumer-facing companies are all seeking production from TSMC, but available output is not keeping pace. According to DigiTimes, TSMC’s 3nm supply is highly constrained, making it difficult for businesses to move forward with product plans without aggressive changes. Among customer groups, only long-term, loyal customers are said to be getting their products with priority.
The pressure is being driven by both limited capacity and rising prices tied to supply shortages. DigiTimes says this is not only due to continuously rising prices caused by supply shortages, but also because insufficient capacity makes it difficult to win business. Procurement and capacity allocation have therefore become the biggest operational challenges at present. Apple and NVIDIA are positioned as major beneficiaries because they have strong relationships with TSMC and significant access to production lines, leaving less room for competitors to secure orders. NVIDIA’s close ties with TSMC are also described as extending to advanced processes such as A16, reinforcing the advantage held by established customers in the Artificial Intelligence market.
Demand for TSMC’s leading-edge nodes also comes from companies with consumer products, including Intel and AMD, but the allocation they receive is described as far lower than the share going to the Artificial Intelligence sector. ASIC manufacturers are also taking up a large portion of semiconductor demand, yet their access to TSMC’s 3nm supply remains constrained, which creates further difficulty in ramping manufacturing volume. With TSMC unable to satisfy all of this demand, companies seeking more capacity are being pushed to consider other foundries.
Samsung Foundry is attracting growing interest from customers such as Tesla and Apple, along with potential future business from AMD. Intel Foundry is also being explored by fabless chip companies, although there are few signs that this attention is turning into meaningful volume for now. The central question is whether chip designers are willing to diversify foundry partners despite the costs of switching microarchitectures and the risk of weakening ties with TSMC.
