Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, became the world’s eighth biggest company in terms of market capitalization after a rally in its American depositary receipts (ADRs) on US markets on Monday.
TSMC’s ADRs rose 0.73 percent to close at NT$192.21, boosting the company’s market cap to US$996.8 billion, the eighth highest in the world, passing US-based investment firm Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s market value of US$992.4 billion. Berkshire Hathaway is owned by investment guru Warren Buffett.
TSMC’s ADRs hit an intraday high of US$194.25 on Monday in line with a robust showing by artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp, which rose 2.43 percent amid continued optimism toward AI development worldwide, dealers said.
Photo: An Rong Xu, Bloomberg
Yesterday, TSMC’s Taipei-lised shares rose 2.39 percent to close at NT$1,070, pushing up the benchmark TAIEX by 316.75 points, or 1.38 percent, to end at 23,292.04.
TSMC’s gains contributed about 200 points to the TAIEX’s rise and sent the electronics index and semiconductor sub-index higher by 1.89 percent and 2.09 percent, respectively.
“Many investors have embraced high hopes that TSMC will report good results for the third quarter and give impressive guidance for the fourth quarter and the whole of 2024 at an investor conference slated for Thursday, due to the AI boom,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang (黃國偉) said. “It is possible TSMC will soon test NT$1,080, a closing high seen on July 11.”
“After the TAIEX passed 23,000 points, I expect the main board to soon challenge the historical intraday high of 23,650 points seen on July 17 as TSMC keeps moving ahead,” Huang said. “However, investors should remain alert over possible volatility on Wednesday, when October futures contracts will be settled, as foreign institutional investors still own a large amount of short position contracts.”
Turnover totaled NT$410.35 billion (US$12.75 billion) yesterday on the main board, with foreign institutional investors buying a net NT$33.43 billion of shares, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
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‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
NOT TO WORRY: Some people are concerned funds might continue moving out of the country, but the central bank said financial account outflows are not unusual in Taiwan Taiwan’s outbound investments hit a new high last year due to investments made by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and other major manufacturers to boost global expansion, the central bank said on Thursday. The net increase in outbound investments last year reached a record US$21.05 billion, while the net increase in outbound investments by Taiwanese residents reached a record US$31.98 billion, central bank data showed. Chen Fei-wen (陳斐紋), deputy director of the central bank’s Department of Economic Research, said the increase was largely due to TSMC’s efforts to expand production in the US and Japan. Investments by Vanguard International
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