However, according to Liberty Times, the company has no intention of giving anyone a break on pricing and the cost per 2nm wafer could hit $30,000, which is about 50 per cent more than the current 3nm pricing.

TSMC began taking 2nm orders in April, and it’s already hitting 60 per cent yields in trial runs. That suggests the outfit is ready to ramp up volume without worrying too much about binning. Liberty Times claims those early yields are putting Troubled Chipzilla's 18A and Samsung's SF2 efforts to shame.

Apparently, demand from AI-obsessed customers is driving this push. Liberty Times reckons there are already more 2nm tapeouts in the first two years than Job's Mob managed for 3nm or 5nm nodes in the same timeframe. That demand is coming from the usual suspects like Qualcomm, MediaTek and, of course, Apple, which is always keen to splash its wads on the newest shiny silicon.

TSMC is pushing its advanced Gate-All-Around (GAA) tech for this node, and TrendForce says that hefty investment means even higher prices are baked in. But with rivals trying to scale up their own 2nm lines in the US, things might get feisty if they manage to get their yields up to scratch.

While 2nm is grabbing headlines, Liberty Times reports that the 3nm node is far from done. Entering its third year of mass production, 3nm now includes flavours like N3E, N3P and N3X. Even car chips are rolling out on the node and already shipping.

In the second quarter of 2025, 3nm brought in 24 per cent of TSMC's revenue, around NTD 224 billion. That figure is expected to rise in the second half, though the company expects 2nm to pull in even fatter margins thanks to its premium pricing model.