The Taiwanese chipmaker’s upcoming 2nm wafers will cost about 10 to 20 per cent more than its current 3nm technology, rather than the 50 per cent nightmare first rumoured.

The relief is relative. The 2nm N2 wafers will still cost around $30,000 each, the same figure that had chip buyers reaching for the aspirin earlier this year. The only reason the price gap looks smaller is that TSMC is cranking up the cost of its existing 3nm nodes, with N3E and N3P expected to climb to roughly $25,000 and $27,000 per wafer.

TSMC plans to kick off mass production of 2nm chips in the final quarter of 2025. Qualcomm is already queuing up for the node, readying its Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 for launch next year. That kind of pricing means handset makers will almost certainly pass the pain on to consumers, pushing up the cost of premium smartphones and tablets.

Qualcomm and MediaTek already had a taste of it. They reportedly paid about 24 per cent more for their 3nm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and Dimensity 9500 parts, suggesting TSMC’s squeeze started long before the 2nm hype began.

So, while the new pricing is not quite as savage as feared, but it is still steep enough to sting. A 20 per cent rise on something that already costs $30,000 a pop hardly feels like good news, even by semiconductor standards.