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TSMC to Raise Wafer Prices by 10% in 2025

Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
Next Xbox and PS6 in shambles
Current Xbox and PS5 Not getting a price cut would appear to be the bigger thing in my mind. I believe consoles have sold the most in the mid-late stages when price drops are introduced.

At this rate, there won't be a price cut before new systems launch.

RE: DenchDeckard DenchDeckard 's question - how can the PS5 Pro not be more than $600/£550 when the PS5 is £480?
 
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DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Current Xbox and PS5 Not getting a price cut would appear to be the bigger thing in my mind. I believe consoles have sold the most in the mid-late stages when price drops are introduced.

At this rate, there won't be a price cut before new systems launch.

RE: DenchDeckard DenchDeckard 's question - how can the PS5 Pro not be more than $600/£550 when the PS5 is £480?

I can't see how it will sell well at £650 / $700 dollars or above but who knows.
 
Know any good youtubes/blogs that delve into this? i get a lot of it is Top of the Top secret but as you said when you think of what TSMC are doing on a single processor its mindblowing stuff, in the realms of magic.

Also i know one of the reasons China keeps harpin on about taking Taiwan is not to reunify the people it's too get its dirty commie mit's on those chip factories, control the chips control the world! so what is the deterrent to stop that other than war with the US? are the factories/manufacturing components rigged to explode? Also i thought that the US owned a lot of the patents that go into these chips so surely the massive chip factories that Intel are building all over the US will be able to compete or is the tech (which i believe is made in Holland) all owned by TSMC? fascinating stuff

I can't cite any specific videos at the moment, but you can search for "ASML" on Youtube or Google. They're the company who design and manufacture the machines which are used to create the processors at TSMC and it's where the real magic happens.

The machines use light to etch in the transistors on a fab, this process is called "lithography" and ASML have been pioneers in this. As the nodes start to get smaller and smaller, these machines need to be more and more precise, and in their latest machines, they use a technology called "EUV" which stands for extreme ultra-violet lithography, this results in a beam of light which is I think around 30 times thinner than the visible light we can see around us.

What TSMC are doing is great but the truth is they're heavily dependent on ASML's machines and engineering and physics breakthroughs. Their latest machine retails for around 350 million and I'm pretty sure Intel have purchased a few of them. To manufacture each machine ASML relies on a 100+ suppliers, all of whom bring their bleeding edge technology into ASML's machine.

Here's a great article :

 
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RJMacready73

Simps for Amouranth
I google mapped ASML's headquarters wondering what sort of mega structure state of the art HQ i'd find for such a globally important company and found this lol https://maps.app.goo.gl/jaMq575vXREY3dsP7 (go sat view and zoom in) thought some of you would get a kick out of it, otherwise its looks pretty nondescript and average looking
 
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I google mapped ASML's headquarters wondering what sort of mega structure state of the art HQ i'd find for such a globally important company and found this lol https://maps.app.goo.gl/jaMq575vXREY3dsP7 (go sat view and zoom in) thought some of you would get a kick out of it, otherwise its looks pretty nondescript and average looking
Haha - I'm thinking they're being discrete on purpose. The company is the Netherlands biggest asset, and one of the biggest assets in the whole technological world for that matter.

The USA keeps very close eye on them. They've imposed restrictions on ASML which means the company cannot sell its machines to China, and every person who the company hires has to go through an intense screening process and if you're of Chinese, North Korean (or any other country which might be deemed an enemy or a threat to the USA) then you're not getting hired.
 

RJMacready73

Simps for Amouranth
jesus at this part of the process in creating the machines to make processors...

"Let us start with light. You cannot simply buy an EUV bulb and switch it on. Indeed, EUV does not naturally occur on our planet, meaning you have to create it, convince it to emerge. One way to get it is to turn tin into hot plasma. When in this state, the plasma emits EUV light.

This is far from simple. It is difficult to turn tin into plasma, requiring raising its temperature to 500,000 degrees – hotter than the sun. Even in that state, harvesting enough EUV for photolithography is difficult. ASML uses a precision laser developed with a specialty provider, Trumpf, to create the extraordinary heat required.

It took a decade and considerable investment for Trumpf to create a suitable laser at ASML’s behest. Not only must the laser be extremely powerful, it must be fast and accurate, capable of hitting a minuscule ball of tin traveling 200 miles per hour through a vacuum. The laser must, in fact, hit each speck of tin twice to successfully turn it into plasma. To get enough EUV, this process occurs 50,000 times per second. A system of fans turning 1,000 times per second keeps the contraption from overheating as it anoints three million microscopic suns a minute"
 

RJMacready73

Simps for Amouranth
Haha - I'm thinking they're being discrete on purpose. The company is the Netherlands biggest asset, and one of the biggest assets in the whole technological world for that matter.

The USA keeps very close eye on them. They've imposed restrictions on ASML which means the company cannot sell its machines to China, and every person who the company hires has to go through an intense screening process and if you're of Chinese, North Korean (or any other country which might be deemed an enemy or a threat to the USA) then you're not getting hired.

Completely agree with the US's stance on this tbf, authoritarian countries with no respect for humanity should not be getting access to any technology from the West
 
Why would covid extend this gen when it was the worst the year leading into the new consoles and the first year of the consoles?
Lead to the chip shortage. Took like 2 years for the early adopters to get their consoles instead of a few months. It also extended cross gen titles which is why GT7 changed to cross gen. It’ll be a long gen.
 

Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
jesus at this part of the process in creating the machines to make processors...

"Let us start with light. You cannot simply buy an EUV bulb and switch it on. Indeed, EUV does not naturally occur on our planet, meaning you have to create it, convince it to emerge. One way to get it is to turn tin into hot plasma. When in this state, the plasma emits EUV light.

This is far from simple. It is difficult to turn tin into plasma, requiring raising its temperature to 500,000 degrees – hotter than the sun. Even in that state, harvesting enough EUV for photolithography is difficult. ASML uses a precision laser developed with a specialty provider, Trumpf, to create the extraordinary heat required.

It took a decade and considerable investment for Trumpf to create a suitable laser at ASML’s behest. Not only must the laser be extremely powerful, it must be fast and accurate, capable of hitting a minuscule ball of tin traveling 200 miles per hour through a vacuum. The laser must, in fact, hit each speck of tin twice to successfully turn it into plasma. To get enough EUV, this process occurs 50,000 times per second. A system of fans turning 1,000 times per second keeps the contraption from overheating as it anoints three million microscopic suns a minute"

It's mad how within a lifetime things have changed. My Dad could reasonably expect to repair anything that broke with a soldering iron if you could source the parts.

Now, it's impossible for the average person to even comprehend how things are assembled.
 

Buggy Loop

Gold Member
The IP involved in photolithography for wafer production are closely guarded secrets, they have had decades to refine it.

ASML is the real bottleneck, much more so than finding the logistics of the manufacturing. Ultimately ASML has the real secrets to lithography and has the foundries’ balls in their hands, including TSMC. Without their machine you’re fucked.

Intel acquired all of ASML’s production of high NA EUV this year so that’s at least coming to USA or their German foundry.
 
I wonder what will happen when the US gets their factories up (if ever). If china would then try and invade taiwan they would blow up the factories meaning the US has a monopoly on that shit now. Everyone will have to bow down to them as they tell Russia and China to fuck off.
 

Haint

Member
I can't cite any specific videos at the moment, but you can search for "ASML" on Youtube or Google. They're the company who design and manufacture the machines which are used to create the processors at TSMC and it's where the real magic happens.

The machines use light to etch in the transistors on a fab, this process is called "lithography" and ASML have been pioneers in this. As the nodes start to get smaller and smaller, these machines need to be more and more precise, and in their latest machines, they use a technology called "EUV" which stands for extreme ultra-violet lithography, this results in a beam of light which is I think around 30 times thinner than the visible light we can see around us.

What TSMC are doing is great but the truth is they're heavily dependent on ASML's machines and engineering and physics breakthroughs. Their latest machine retails for around 350 million and I'm pretty sure Intel have purchased a few of them. To manufacture each machine ASML relies on a 100+ suppliers, all of whom bring their bleeding edge technology into ASML's machine.

Here's a great article :


If it were as simple as buying ASML machines, Intel, Glofo, and Samsung would have never been lapped by TSMC and effectively rendered obsolete.

The US will 1000% glass TSMC's Taiwan facilities before China even stepped off their ships, they will never rely on a remote software kill switch. It's literally the most valuable installment on the face of the earth, quadrupely so with the looming potential of AI.
 
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Rockman33

Member
Lead to the chip shortage. Took like 2 years for the early adopters to get their consoles instead of a few months. It also extended cross gen titles which is why GT7 changed to cross gen. It’ll be a long gen.

both PS5 and Xbox were having some of their best console sales ever in the first couple years. I’m not really sure how many additional unites they would have been able to sell.
 

Rockman33

Member
People were still scrambling for consoles for years. 🤷‍♂️
I know that was the narrative. But I feel like everyone that really wanted one in the first year got one. And we are 4 years in and sales are down substantially this year.

Kind of think the initial draw for them selling out for so long was because the whole game industry was getting boosted from covid.

Obviously this is just my thoughts and don’t we will never really know.
 

Katajx

Member
We are going to get less performance boost than we are used to on consoles rather than large price increases I believe.

I know there is the PC argument and the smartphones, but there is more pricing sensitivity in the console market, and the PS3 showed that.
 
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I know that was the narrative. But I feel like everyone that really wanted one in the first year got one. And we are 4 years in and sales are down substantially this year.

Kind of think the initial draw for them selling out for so long was because the whole game industry was getting boosted from covid.

Obviously this is just my thoughts and don’t we will never really know.
People wouldn’t be all over the hot stock app for ps5 and series x if it was just a narrative.

The series s was largely available the whole time and didn’t sell out cause of the covid lockdowns.
 

mitch1971

Gold Member
monty python GIF by Head Like an Orange
 
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