The entrails apparently claim that the rest of the integrated circuit market's sales to rise by 10 percent in that same period, meaning that TSMC'could experience growth at over three times the rate of the rest of the market. Much of that extra growth can be attributed to the popularity of processors made with its 7nm process.

DigiTimes reported TSMC had told its clients to book their 7nm capacity for the entirety of 2020 and it is expected that companies will have to fight over a pit of angry crocodiles for the entertainment of TSMC management if they are going to guarantee their supplies next year.

IC Insights said it expects TSMC to make $8.9 billion in revenue from 7nm chips this year. That's 26 percent of its total sales in 2019 and a third of its revenue for the fourth quarter. The outfits leaning on the processing gear includes Apple, Huawei, AMD, and Nvidia.

Things are expected to get even worse when TSMC introduces the 5nm process. IC Insights said that companies have been quicker to adopt new process technologies as it took eight quarters for the foundry’s 40-45nm technology to secure greater than 20 percent of its total sales, five quarters for its 28nm process to exceed that threshold and only three quarters for its 7nm process to account for more than 20 percent of its quarterly revenue."

The firm noted that "strong demand for the advanced nodes has resulted in tight supply and longer lead times".