According to a recent foundry report released by Taiwanese industry research firm TrendForce Corp., continued investment in the AI arms race by North American CSPs and AI start-ups will keep demand for AI processors and supporting ICs strong in 2026. Global foundry revenue is projected to grow by 24.8% year-on-year to approximately US$218.8 billion, with TSMC expected to post the largest increase of around 32% year-on-year.
Advanced node demand will continue to be driven by AI GPUs from such companies as NVIDIA and AMD. Meanwhile, North American CSPs (Google, AWS, Meta) and AI start-ups (OpenAI, Groq) are accelerating their own AI chip development. Many of these designs are expected to enter volume production and begin shipping in 2026, becoming key drivers for 5/4 nm and more advanced process technologies.
The TrendForce report observed that TSMC’s 5/4 nm and below capacity is expected to remain fully utilized through the end of 2026, while Samsung Electronics Foundry has also seen a notable increase in orders for its 5/4 nm-class modes. TSMC has therefore raised foundry prices across all nodes at 5/4 nm and below for 2026, and with order visibility extending into 2027, further price increases in subsequent years cannot be ruled out. Samsung similarly informed customers in 4Q25 that it would raise prices for its 5/4 nm foundry services.
Click here for the full Trendforce article.