Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest semiconductor-maker, is finding it challenging to meet customer demand despite expanding its operations in the US. CEO C.C. Wei admitted that 'we can only support so much' at a shareholder meeting, highlighting the difficulties posed by the surge in artificial intelligence (AI) use.

The AI boom has already tightened the memory market, with shortages of RAM and NAND Flash expected to persist for years. Deloitte predicts the semiconductor industry could reach $1 trillion by 2027, but TSMC faces a long road ahead given its current capacity limitations.

Wei expressed hope that price hikes might be necessary but ruled out sudden increases due to past examples of abrupt price rises in DRAM and SSDs. He also noted that US-based production would only help marginally, as it could take 'a very long time' to meet customer needs.

TSMC has already established a factory in Arizona and plans significant investments worth $165 billion towards building three new facilities there, alongside advanced packaging plants and a research center. Despite these efforts, the company is unlikely to keep up with soaring demand anytime soon, reflecting the complexity of scaling semiconductor production.