Overview

TSMC fabricates the large majority of the world's sub-7 nm logic. FY2024 revenue was $90.08B (+30% YoY) on $29.76B capex, at a 56.1% gross margin (TSMC Q4 2024).

The economics

• A 3nm 300 mm wafer sells for ~$18,000–20,000 (Tom's Hardware); the blank substrate it starts from is ~$200 — see the Idiot Index.
• Advanced nodes (≤7 nm) are ~70% of revenue; 3 nm alone went 6% → 25% in ~2.5 years.
• Bare manufacturing cost is well below the sale price (CSET modeled a 5nm wafer at ~$17k sale = ~$4,235 capital + the rest cost/markup).

Energy & water

• 25.55 TWh of electricity in 2024 (~9% of all Taiwan), ~13% renewable (power data) — ≈ 2,000 kWh per wafer company-average (leading-edge higher).
• ~8.3 m³ water/wafer (5.7 m³ ultrapure), >80% recycled (sustainability report).

Position in the chain

Consumes wafers (Shin-Etsu), EUV tools (ASML), and gases; supplies dies + CoWoS packaging to fabless designers like NVIDIA.

Not publicly disclosed

Per-node wafer pricing and per-node energy/water — all node-specific figures here are analyst or company-average, flagged accordingly.