TSMC is deepening its AI chip design ties with Cadence and Synopsys. Cadence $CDNS says its UALink IP is silicon-proven on TSMC’s advanced nodes, while Synopsys $SNPS is expanding its partnership around agentic AI and advanced chip design.

TSMC REPORTEDLY PLANS 3%-6% WAFER PRICE HIKES STARTING JANUARY 2027 DigiTimes says increases could be larger for 2nm and 3nm, where demand is running ahead of supply. Supply-chain sources say: • 8-inch utilization is above 100% • Sub-45nm capacity is fully loaded • Orders are visible through 2030 • Arizona pricing remains elevated due to higher manufacturing costs The demand is being driven by AI-related GPUs, ASICs, HBM, power chips, controllers, analog, sensors, optics and advanced packaging. TSMC declined to comment.

TSMC’s A14 roadmap is starting to take shape. According to Taiwan’s Commercial Times, #TSMC# is preparing a multi-generation production cluster for N3, N2, A16, and A14, with Hsinchu’s Fab 20 and Taichung’s Fab 25 playing key roles.

TSMC will begin 1.4nm (A14) trial production in the 1st quarter next year, media report, and equipment is already being moved-in to Hsinchu’s Fab 20 (P3). TSMC’s Fab 25 in Taichung, central Taiwan, will be the second 1.4nm fab, with phase 1 construction to finish in April, and trial production to begin as early as the 3rd quarter-2027. Taichung will be the main A14 cluster. The A14 timeline is ahead of schedule, something TSMC had noted during its 2nd quarter earnings call in July. $TSM #semiconductors#

TSMC could see a monthly record high NT$520 billion in September revenue, a catalyst to propel the Taiwan Stock Exchange in early October, media report, citing institutional analysts. TSMC reports September revenue on Oct. 8 (10/8). The current all-time-high is August’s NT$514.81B. $TSM #semiconductors#

TSMC’s fabs in the Nanzih District of Kaohsiung City turned the area into one of the hottest property markets in Taiwan, but worries surfaced after no new residential building projects were launched during the “928” sales season, media report, noting that over the past 2-years, the value of new projects exceeded NT$10 billion. Builders are holding off on new projects as they sell existing inventory, while media note purchases have fallen 90% in 2026 to 197 presale homes, from a 2024 peak of 2,098. Prices continue to hold up, for now. $TSM

TSMC could create a new “Moore’s Law for CPO,” doubling bandwidth every two years as it accelerates the rollout of co-packaged optics (CPO) to meet the soaring bandwidth requirements of AI data centers, according to a media report. TSMC will focus on three areas to scale CPO: • Per-lane speed: Increase single-channel speeds from 200G today to 400G and beyond • Optical channel density: Expand channel counts from 16 today to 32, then 64 and beyond • WDM (wavelength-division multiplexing): Enable each optical fiber to carry more wavelengths simultaneously The report forecasts that doubling bandwidth every two years could take CPO bandwidth from a 3.2T baseline today to around 410T by 2040 – 128x higher. $TSM