Taiwan's chip foundry sector is heating up, and analysts say it's good news for TSMC, UMC, and especially PSMC, which just announced steep price hikes.

• PSMC (Powerchip) says it will raise prices on older chip types by up to 20% next year, and brokers expect its profits to roughly double this year and next.
• TSMC keeps cranking out advanced chips at full capacity, with AI demand (plus new VR and networking chips) seen pushing fourth-quarter revenue to record highs; brokers' price target on the stock is as high as 3,500 NT dollars.
• UMC and PSMC are also running near-full factory capacity and are starting to raise prices on older manufacturing lines as supply gets tight.
• AI chipmaker Anthropic's new IPO filing flagged Taiwan as a major risk, warning that a war, blockade, or disaster there could cripple the world's advanced chip supply for years — and admitted it has struggled to get enough chips in the past.
• Separately, global memory chip shortages tied to the AI data-center boom are expected to last into 2027-2028, with Taiwan's advanced chip-packaging role seen as hard to replace.

Outlook: Analysts expect foundry revenue and prices to keep climbing through year-end as AI and device demand stay strong, though Anthropic's warning underscores how much the global chip supply still depends on Taiwan staying stable.