Renesas Announces Second Price Increase, Effective in 2027

According to a notice released by Renesas Electronics on September 9, the global power semiconductor manufacturer is making another adjustment to its product pricing structure. The new prices will take effect on January 1, 2027. This marks the company's second price adjustment this year, following a price increase announced in March that took effect on July 1.

Renesas said the semiconductor industry continues to face structural increases in costs related to raw materials, energy, advanced packaging, manufacturing capacity, and global logistics. These rising costs are the primary factors behind the latest pricing adjustment.

Renesas is not alone in raising prices. Since the beginning of this year, the semiconductor supply chain has been experiencing a broad-based wave of price increases.

Upstream, the prices of key semiconductor manufacturing materials have risen sharply. Electronic-grade hydrofluoric acid, an essential chemical used for wafer cleaning and etching, has seen the price of high-specification G5-grade products increase from approximately RMB 120,000 per ton at the beginning of the year to more than RMB 210,000 per ton. This represents an increase of more than 75% in six months, driven mainly by higher costs for upstream materials such as sulfur and sulfuric acid, as well as the slow expansion of high-end production capacity.

In semiconductor packaging, ASE Technology has raised its quotations several times, with prices for advanced packaging technologies increasing by more than 20% in some cases. The adjustments cover AI-related packaging technologies such as CoWoS and FoCoS. ASE CEO Jason Chang said the price increases reflect not only higher raw material costs but also significantly higher capital expenditures. The company's annual capital expenditure has increased from approximately $2 billion in previous years to $8.5 billion planned for 2026.

The power semiconductor sector is also facing continued cost pressures. Power semiconductor manufacturers, including StarPower Semiconductor, Yangjie Technology, and Silan Microelectronics, have launched a second round of price increases this year, with adjustments generally ranging from 10% to 25%. Rising costs across wafer manufacturing, industrial metals, and packaging materials have become key drivers of the latest price increases.

According to market research firm Yole Group, the global power semiconductor market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.1% between 2025 and 2031, reaching approximately $41.3 billion by 2031. At the same time, capacity for 2.5D and 3D advanced packaging remains tight, with industry expectations that supply-demand constraints could persist through the second half of 2027.

Renesas currently ranks 14th in the global power semiconductor market. The company's decision to announce new pricing nearly a year and a half before the effective date, following another increase earlier this year, highlights the continued accumulation of structural cost pressures across the power semiconductor industry. In the near term, the industry may continue to face elevated costs, with limited signs of a significant easing in supply-chain pressures.