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.