Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) market value closed above US$1 trillion for the first time in Taipei last week, with a raised sales forecast driven by robust artificial intelligence (AI) demand.
TSMC saw its Taiwanese shares climb to a record high on Friday, a near 50 percent rise from an April low. That has made it the first Asian stock worth more than US$1 trillion, since PetroChina Co (中國石油天然氣) briefly reached the milestone in 2007.
As investors turned calm after their aggressive buying on Friday, amid optimism over the chipmaker’s business outlook, TSMC lost 0.43 percent to close at NT$1,150 (US$39.1) yesterday, with a market value of NT$29.82 trillion.
Photo: Reuters
The stock has risen 7.44 percent since the beginning of the year, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
TSMC’s stock surge reflected growing investor confidence that the world’s top chipmaker would ride the AI boom to even greater dominance.
The company last week raised its full-year revenue growth forecast to about 30 percent, signaling TSMC might benefit in a tightening race for AI manufacturing capacity.
“We think that TSMC’s tone toward advanced node demand is even more positive, with AI customers showing no signs of demand slowdown,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc analysts including Bruce Lu (呂昆霖) wrote in a note after TSMC’s quarterly earnings on Thursday. “We expect to see a higher magnitude of price hike in 2026.”
TSMC’s American depositary receipts (ADR) were valued at about US$1.2 trillion as of the close on Friday. Owning ADR shares has been more convenient for foreign investors, as converting the Taipei-listed stock into the US equivalent needs regulatory approval.
Strong AI spending by TSMC’s customers and the upside of wafer prices would help mitigate the negative impact of a strong New Taiwan dollar and help add resilience to the company’s gross margins, JPMorgan Chase & Co analysts including Gokul Hariharan wrote in a note late last week.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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