Wei Zhejia candidly said that TSMC’s “capacity has reached its limit”: AI demand is too crazy, the United States’ factory expansion cannot solve the shortage in the short term, and a price increase is taking shape

TSMC CEO Wei Zhe-Jia recently admitted after the shareholders' meeting that the current demand for AI chips is over the top, and TSMC's capacity has reached its limit. Although the company is actively expanding its manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Wei Zhe-Jia straightforwardly stated that it will still take a "very long time" to meet the huge demand from American clients like NVIDIA and Apple through domestic U.S. capacity.
(Background: TSMC protests union formation! Can 65k employees learn from Samsung's strike to "demand bonuses"?)
(Additional context: TSMC confirms dividend cut to 10% to buy green energy, employees angry: Why should corporate social responsibility be deducted from my pocket? Union voices rising)

The global AI wave continues to sweep, and the insatiable demand for computing power is putting unprecedented pressure on the global semiconductor supply chain. According to a report by The Verge on June 4, 2026, TSMC, the world's leading wafer foundry, is also facing severe capacity shortages. Wei Zhe-Jia, TSMC's CEO, clearly stated after the recent shareholders' meeting that current customer demand is astonishing, and the company has already reached its support limit.

Wei Zhe-Jia: TSMC is doing its best to avoid becoming a supply chain bottleneck

Wei Zhe-Jia admitted during his speech, "Customer demand is just too high, and our support capacity is limited. We are doing our utmost to ensure TSMC does not become an industry bottleneck." This highlights that even as the world's largest chip manufacturer, TSMC still struggles to keep up with the explosive computing power demand in the AI sector.

To mitigate geopolitical risks and meet localized production needs, TSMC has already launched a 4nm chip factory in Arizona, USA. Additionally, according to reports, TSMC plans to invest $165 billion to build three more wafer fabs, two advanced packaging facilities, and a R&D center in the U.S. Furthermore, Wei Zhe-Jia openly stated that relying solely on U.S. domestic capacity to fully satisfy major American clients like NVIDIA and Apple may still require a "very long time."

Foundry prices are expected to rise, with AI-driven semiconductors breaking the trillion-dollar market value

Regarding the highly concerned pricing strategy, Wei Zhe-Jia revealed that TSMC is indeed "willing" to raise foundry prices to reflect the massive capital expenditures and high manufacturing costs. However, he also promised that TSMC will not experience sudden and sharp price surges like those recently seen in the memory market (including RAM and NAND Flash), indicating that the company is seeking a balance between maintaining profitability and stable customer relationships.

The report also cites Deloitte's latest forecast, which indicates that driven by rapid growth in AI infrastructure, the global semiconductor industry is expected to officially surpass a $1 trillion market size by 2027. However, this AI boom has already caused severe supply-demand imbalances in the memory industry, with shortages expected to last for several years. Despite TSMC's active capacity expansion, the ongoing tight supply further demonstrates the enormous challenge that AI infrastructure development poses to the global hardware supply chain.