NVIDIA RTX prices could rise shortly due to incident at a TSMC factory
A problem with the chemicals that TSMC uses could end up causing an increase in the prices of NVIDIA RTX graphics cards.
The most busy foundry at the moment is the Taiwanese TSMC after GlobalFoundries gave up developing the 7nm and 5nm lithographs. Many companies demand TSMC chips and among them are Huawei and NVIDIA, the latter, one of the most important customers. It appears that there has been a problem in the manufacturing process at TSMC Fab 14 located in southern Taiwan which mainly produces chips for HiSilicon (a Huawei subsidiary), NVIDIA and MediaTek.
Problems for Huawei and NVIDIA
TSMC has reported that technicians have detected a shipment of different chemical compounds that was in poor condition. These chemicals had already entered the loop and have affected thousands of wafers destined for these two companies. Besides being a problem because the wafers are not usable, there is a very serious impact on production. From the company they have not said directly that they are in poor condition, but have used the euphemism: "outside the required specifications"
Right now the origin of the chemicals in poor condition is unknown, although the companies Shin Etsu Chemical, JSR or Dow Chemical are pointed out. An exhaustive investigation has been initiated to find out which company has been responsible and which batch is causing the problems.
In addition to this, the company had already announced a 10% drop in revenue for this first quarter compared to the first quarter of 2018. There was data on a 22% quarter-on-quarter drop due to low sales in this first quarter.
This will negatively affect the company's income, causing an even greater reduction in income. The company is still evaluating the economic impact and all the problems it will generate. Now it will be necessary to know how this will affect especially the NVIDIA graphics, since they could suffer an increase in the event of a shortage of graphics. Everything indicates that the prices of the NVIDIA RTX could end up rising if the problem is not solved quickly.
Source: TechNews
