wafer price

Wafer price is the **cost charged by a foundry to process one wafer** through all fabrication steps for a customer's product. It's the primary billing unit in the foundry business model. **Typical Foundry Wafer Prices (300mm)** • **180nm-90nm**: $1,500-3,000 per wafer • **65nm-40nm**: $3,000-5,000 • **28nm**: $4,000-6,000 • **16/14nm FinFET**: $6,000-8,000 • **7nm**: $9,000-12,000 • **5nm**: $14,000-17,000 • **3nm**: $18,000-22,000+ **What's Included in Wafer Price** All process steps from blank wafer to completed wafer: lithography (including EUV), deposition, etch, implant, CMP, clean, and metrology/inspection. **Not included**: mask costs (separate NRE charge), packaging, testing, and design services. **Price Negotiation Factors** **Volume commitment**: Higher committed volume = lower per-wafer price. TSMC's largest customers (Apple, NVIDIA) negotiate best pricing. **Technology maturity**: Newer nodes command premium pricing; prices decline as the node matures. **Contract length**: Multi-year agreements provide better pricing than spot orders. **Utilization**: When fabs are full, prices are firm. When utilization is low, foundries may offer discounts to fill capacity. **Wafer Price Trends** Prices increase **~30% per node** at the leading edge due to more process steps, EUV costs, and fab depreciation. However, the **cost per transistor** continues to decrease because each new node packs more transistors per mm². This is the fundamental economic engine of Moore's Law—even though wafers cost more, the transistors on them cost less individually. **Revenue Calculation** Foundry revenue = wafer price × wafers shipped. TSMC's 2023 revenue of ~$69 billion came from shipping roughly **15 million** 300mm-equivalent wafers.