Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) Chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) openly admitted Wednesday that he envies the sky-high profit margins some memory chipmakers are posting — then explained precisely why TSMC will never pursue them.
Speaking to reporters after the company's annual shareholder meeting in Hsinchu, Wei said the trust TSMC has accumulated with customers over decades is worth far more than any short-term pricing windfall. Exploiting a supply squeeze to extract higher prices, he argued, would corrode the very foundation that makes TSMC indispensable.
'We Won't Suddenly Raise Prices Four Times'
Asked directly whether TSMC might follow the memory industry's lead and sharply increase prices for advanced logic manufacturing, Wei drew a hard line. "We won't suddenly raise prices four times like memory companies do," he said — distinguishing TSMC's foundry model from the commodity-driven swings that define the memory sector.
The difference, Wei argued, is not just commercial strategy but identity. TSMC is a company built on reliability, he said, and reliability means customers can count on stable pricing even when supply tightens. Major price adjustments driven by short-term market shifts are simply not part of the playbook.
Customers Always Call TSMC First
Wei said the proof of that trust shows up every time a customer begins planning a new product. "It's always TSMC first," he said — not because of contractual obligations, but because working with TSMC is associated with higher success rates and lower development risk.
He added, with characteristic humor, that for many customers, leaving TSMC would be a genuinely painful experience — the result not of any binding agreement, but of years of deep collaboration that are difficult to replicate elsewhere.
'80% Gross Margin Is Too Sweet — But It's Not Reasonable'
Wei did not shy away from acknowledging the appeal of what memory chipmakers are earning. "An 80% gross margin is great — too sweet," he said. But he was quick to add that such a profit model is neither reasonable nor consistent with how TSMC thinks about its own future.
What a company should be measured by, Wei argued, is not how much it earns in any given year, but whether it can sustain operations across decades. Near-term margin figures, he said, have never been his focus.
The Same Words, 30 Years From Now
Wei closed with a statement he framed as a long-term benchmark — one he hopes will still hold long after he is gone. "Sustainable operation is what TSMC truly needs to achieve," he said.
"I hope that 10 years, 20 years, 30 years from now, TSMC's chairman will sit here and say exactly the same thing." （Related： Taiwan's Ennostar, TSMC Bet on Micro LED to Power Nvidia's AI Clusters ｜ Latest ）
