Chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Wednesday told clients that it was going to increase prices by up to 20% for certain wafers amid an ongoing chip crunch, according to local media reports.
Such a move could potentially boost up costs of end products for its clients, including Bitmain, one of the world’s biggest producers of cryptocurrency mining rigs. Its flagship miners include the Antminer S19 series, delivered to major crypto mining companies such as Poolin.
It appears the price increase may differ for clients, according to multiple local media reports. Taiwan’s United Daily News reported some companies had received a notice from TSMC stating the price hike would take effect immediately, while local newspaper Commercial Times reported for some companies, the price increase would only take effect in the first quarter of next year.
It remains unclear if the reported price hike would hinder TSMC’s business with Bitmain. The mining rig maker mainly sources TSMC’s wafers for its Antminer S19 series.
TSMC said in an email response to Forkast.News that it would not comment on pricing issues and market rumors.
Bitmain did not respond to a Forkast.News request for comment.
“It seems, on the surface, that a chip price jump or slump would affect the cost for manufacturing crypto mining machines, but the impact might actually be minimal to the entire crypto mining industry,” said Winston Hsiao, co-founder and chief revenue officer of blockchain fintech company XREX, who also founded one of Taiwan’s largest semiconductor parts exporting companies a decade ago.
Hsiao told Forkast.News the mining industry would pay more attention to the market value of a certain cryptocurrency and how much that value is being hyped up, in order to assess if miners should keep mining or even consider an expansion.
The crypto mining industry in China has already suffered from a government crackdown. As China continues cracking down on crypto mining, many miners have fled China for other places that appear to be more regulation-friendly and offer inexpensive power. Some of the top destinations for displaced Chinese miners have included North America, Kazakhstan and Northern Europe.
Bitmain has also offered assistance to clients that wanted to relocate their cryptocurrency mining operations from China to other countries.
TSMC’s American deposit receipts closed up 4.39% at US$117.03 on Wednesday.
