Institutional ticker directory tracking stock mentions, long/short ideas, and high-conviction pitches extracted from quarterly hedge fund letters.
| Ticker | Company | Sector | Industry | Pitches | Stance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fund / Manager | Thesis Excerpt | Stance | Period / Date | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund Alex Umansky | “Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited is the world's largest contract chipmaker and the leading manufacturer of advanced logic semiconductors used in modern AI accelerators. Shares rose 41.6% during the quarter as the company continues to report stellar financial results underpinned by AI demand with revenue growth of 35% year-on-year and EPS growth of 58%, with 66% gross margins and 58% operating margins. High-performance computing now represents the majority of TSMC's business. AI demand is consuming so much leading-edge capacity that smartphone and PC production is increasingly shifting to older technology nodes, reversing a dynamic that defined the foundry industry for much of the past decade. Management also raised its full-year outlook and increased capital spending to support demand that remains well above available supply. We retain long-term conviction in TSMC and view its leading-edge manufacturing monopoly, pricing power, and technology roadmap as durable advantages that support a long duration of growth.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Aug 14, 2026 | View Pitch |
Baron Durable Advantage Fund Alex Umansky | “Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited is the world's largest contract chipmaker and the leading manufacturer of advanced logic semiconductors used in modern AI accelerators. Shares rose 41.6% during the quarter as the company continued reporting stellar financial results underpinned by AI demand with revenue growth of 35% year-on-year and EPS growth of 58%, with 66% gross margins and 58% operating margins. High-performance computing now represents the majority of TSMC's business. AI demand is consuming so much leading-edge capacity that smartphone and PC production is increasingly shifting to older technology nodes, reversing a dynamic that defined the foundry industry for much of the past decade. Management also raised its full-year outlook and increased capital spending to support demand that remains well above available supply. We retain long-term conviction in TSMC and view its leading-edge manufacturing monopoly, pricing power, and technology roadmap as durable advantages that support a long duration of growth.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Aug 12, 2026 | View Pitch |
Eagle Capital Management Ravenel B. Curry III | “TSMC is the world's fab, where most leading-edge logic chips, ranging from Apple to NVIDIA, are made. TSMC is one of the best businesses in the semiconductor industry and is well positioned over the next 5-10 years to participate in the sector's secular growth while maintaining their competitive positions. That said, they will face pressures when the next downturn comes. TSMC management's understandable reluctance to overinvest in capacity has caused shortages that created opportunities for Intel and Samsung. While we think TSMC's technology leadership position and comparatively mild pricing will mitigate the pressures, it is likely to see tougher competition than we would have expected a couple of years ago.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Aug 4, 2026 | View Pitch |
Sands Capital Emerging Markets Growth Fund Teeja Boye, CFA and Brian A. Christiansen, CFA | “TSMC benefited from strong AI demand, supported by its position as the world's largest manufacturer of leading-edge chips by market share. The biggest takeaway from first-quarter 2026 results, in our view, was a gross margin beat that came in well ahead of consensus and our expectations. We believe the margin improvement reflects strong demand for leading-edge nodes and advanced packaging, rather than unsustainable pricing. Demand for TSMC's N2 to N5 nodes reinforces our view that the company will play a central role in the agentic AI hardware cycle, supported by emerging demand for AI CPUs and broad demand for accelerator chips. TSMC's competitive position also remains differentiated despite recent attention on competitors' packaging advances. Our research indicates Broadcom will continue scaling with TSMC, even after evaluating Intel's EMIB-T packaging technology. We believe that major customers' continued reliance on TSMC, even after testing alternatives, underscores the company's technological advantage and ecosystem depth.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 31, 2026 | View Pitch |
Sands Capital International Growth Fund David E. Levanson, CFA and Danielle J. Menichella, CFA | “TSMC benefited from strong AI demand, supported by its position as the world's largest scaled manufacturer of leading-edge chips by market share. The biggest takeaway from first-quarter 2026 results, in our view, was a gross margin beat that came in well ahead of consensus and our expectations. We believe the margin improvement reflects strong demand for leading-edge nodes and advanced packaging, rather than unsustainable pricing. Demand for TSMC's N2 to N5 nodes reinforces our view that the company will play a central role in the agentic AI hardware cycle, supported by emerging demand for AI CPUs and broad demand for accelerator chips. TSMC's competitive position also remains differentiated despite recent attention on competitors' packaging advances. Our research indicates Broadcom will continue scaling with TSMC, even after evaluating Intel's EMIB-T packaging technology. We believe that major customers' continued reliance on TSMC, even after testing alternatives, underscores the company's technological advantage and ecosystem depth.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 31, 2026 | View Pitch |
Sands Capital Global Growth Fund Brian A. Christiansen, David E. Levanson, Daniel Pilling | “TSMC benefited from strong AI demand, supported by its position as the world's largest scaled manufacturer of leading-edge chips. The biggest takeaway from first-quarter 2026 results, in our view, was a gross margin beat that came in well ahead of consensus and our expectations. We believe the margin improvement reflects strong demand for leading-edge nodes and advanced packaging, rather than unsustainable pricing. Demand for TSMC's N2 to N5 nodes reinforces our view that the company will play a central role in the agentic AI hardware cycle, supported by emerging demand for AI CPUs and broad demand for accelerator chips. TSMC's competitive position also remains differentiated despite recent attention on competitors' packaging advances. Our research indicates Broadcom will continue scaling with TSMC, even after evaluating Intel's EMIB-T packaging technology. We believe that major customers' continued reliance on TSMC, even after testing alternatives, underscores the company's technological advantage and ecosystem depth.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 31, 2026 | View Pitch |
Ariel International Fund Ariel Investments, LLC | “We repurchased Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd. (TSMC), the global leader in semiconductor foundry services with unmatched scale, technological leadership and execution. While demand for smartphones and PCs is stabilizing, we believe the rapid adoption of AI will drive the next phase of growth. TSMC's leadership in advanced process technologies and its deep partnerships with leading chip designers position it at the center of this powerful secular trend. We viewed the recent downturn in the foundry sector as an attractive entry point given the quality and durability of TSMC's business model. With a structurally advantaged position, strong pricing power and exposure to the most advanced semiconductor nodes, we believe the company is well positioned for sustained growth and margin strength.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 30, 2026 | View Pitch |
SGA - International Growth Tucker Brown | “Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's leading semiconductor foundry, was a top contributor to performance during the quarter. Shares were supported by sustained strength in demand for advanced logic and compute, with customers across AI accelerators and CPUs continuing to require additional capacity. TSMC remains firmly positioned at the leading edge of semiconductor manufacturing, benefiting from secular demand across high performance computing, smartphones, automotive, and AI applications. Its technology leadership and scale support sustained double digit growth, with revenue increasingly driven by recurring and repeatable categories that reduce cyclicality. Given TSMC's dominant competitive position, deep customer entrenchment, and the continued global need for advanced compute, TSMC remains well-positioned to deliver strong double-digit revenue and earnings growth over the coming years. We maintained an above-average weight position during the quarter.” | BULL | Q2 2026 Jul 30, 2026 | View Pitch |
Baron Emerging Markets Fund Michael Kass | “Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) is the world's largest contract chipmaker and the leading manufacturer of advanced logic semiconductors used in modern AI accelerators. Shares rose during the quarter as investors increasingly recognized that TSMC, rather than any individual chip designer, sits at the center of the AI supply chain. High-performance computing now represents the majority of TSMC's business. AI demand is consuming so much leading-edge capacity that smartphone and PC production is increasingly shifting to older technology nodes, reversing a dynamic that defined the foundry industry for much of the past decade. Management also raised its full-year outlook and increased capital spending to support demand that remains well above available supply. We retain long-term conviction in TSMC and view its leading-edge manufacturing monopoly, pricing power, and 2-nanometer technology roadmap as durable advantages that support multi-year earnings power.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 30, 2026 | View Pitch |
Polen Capital - Focus Growth Dan Davidowitz | “Finally, we initiated a position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the dominant pure semiconductor foundry globally. Most of the world's semiconductor companies design but don't manufacture chips. TSMC is the go-to manufacturer with decades of investment and experience. They produce thousands of different products using hundreds of different technologies for many different end markets. The vast majority of their sales are from leading edge manufacturing processes, which we think further distances the company from its peers who lack the resources to keep up with the increased complexity of chip production. TSMC is technology and customer agnostic, so it is the default supplier for almost all new chip technologies from whichever company designs those chips. While the company and most of its manufacturing is based in Taiwan, the vast majority of its sales are to US-based companies like NVIDIA, Apple, Amazon, Google, and Qualcomm. TSMC is the latest addition to the Portfolio in the semiconductor supply chain because we think each of these companies represent a monopoly or duopoly type business with long term secular growth in addition to the current strong AI cycle.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 30, 2026 | View Pitch |
SGA - Global Growth Hrishikesh Gupta | “Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's leading semiconductor foundry, was a top contributor to performance during the quarter. Shares were supported by sustained strength in demand for advanced logic and compute, with customers across AI accelerators and CPUs continuing to require additional capacity. TSMC remains firmly positioned at the leading edge of semiconductor manufacturing, benefiting from secular demand across high performance computing, smartphones, automotive, and AI applications. Its technology leadership and scale support sustained double digit growth, with revenue increasingly driven by recurring and repeatable categories that reduce cyclicality. Given TSMC's dominant competitive position, deep customer entrenchment, and the continued global need for advanced compute, TSMC remains well-positioned to deliver strong double-digit revenue and earnings growth over the coming years.” | BULL | Q2 2026 Jul 30, 2026 | View Pitch |
SGA - Emerging Markets Growth Hrishikesh Gupta | “Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's leading semiconductor foundry, was a top contributor to performance during the quarter. Shares were supported by sustained strength in demand for advanced logic and compute, with customers across AI accelerators and CPUs continuing to require additional capacity. TSMC remains firmly positioned at the leading edge of semiconductor manufacturing, benefiting from secular demand across high performance computing, smartphones, automotive, and AI applications. Its technology leadership and scale support sustained double digit growth, with revenue increasingly driven by recurring and repeatable categories that reduce cyclicality. Given TSMC's dominant competitive position, deep customer entrenchment, and the continued global need for advanced compute, TSMC remains well-positioned to deliver strong double-digit revenue and earnings growth over the coming years.” | BULL | Q2 2026 Jul 30, 2026 | View Pitch |
Stewart Investors Portfolio Manager | “TSMC rose after reporting strong earnings results. Its position as the most technically advanced fabricator of leading-edge semiconductor chips is clear, despite whispers of rising competition from Intel and Samsung. TSMC enjoys more than 90% share of leading-edge nodes, and with AI demand driving higher profits and strong guidance for the year ahead, the company is accelerating capital expenditure plans to try and narrow the gap between its supply and customer demand. Meanwhile, tight supply should support higher prices and feed into gross margins and profitability, with good visibility through to 2027-28. TSMC has an unrivalled position in the most cutting-edge process nodes and has seen soaring demand amid the AI data centre buildout. Supply for these advanced chips remains tight despite TSMC's plans to add capacity over the coming years, which has supported pricing and profit margins. There has been speculation TSMC could face increasing competition in advanced nodes as customers seek to diversify their supply chains; however, we believe TSMC's ramp up in capex, based on its detailed demand forecast model, should widen its competitive moat. Over the longer term, we see the company as a natural beneficiary of productisation, the diffusion of AI into end-devices and industrial applications.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 28, 2026 | View Pitch |
Baillie Gifford -Emerging Markets Andrew Stobart / Mike Gush / Ben Durrant | “We have held TSMC and Samsung Electronics continuously in our emerging markets strategies since the 2000s. We initiated these holdings on the belief that the world was going to need more silicon chips and these companies would control the bottlenecks. Initially, this was for smartphones, then the cloud, followed by Internet of Things and autonomous driving. AI is just the latest and perhaps biggest iteration of the idea that the world is going to need more silicon chips. TSMC, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix now represent approximately 30 percent of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and approximately 40 percent of the portfolio.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 23, 2026 | View Pitch |
Baillie Gifford -International Concentrated Growth Lawrence Burns / Paulina McPadden | “Those exposed to growing AI capital expenditure have performed strongly, and our large semiconductor holdings in TSMC and ASML have continued to benefit. TSMC remains central to the production of the world's most advanced chips, at a scale close to unassailable; it manufactures around 90 percent of chips at the most advanced nodes, the kind on which AI depends. The appeal of both is that they are an agnostic royalty on the rising use of AI: whichever application or model prevails, they benefit regardless. Owning this layer of the AI supply chain is one of the clearest attractions of investing outside the US. These new additions were funded by the reduction of holdings that have continued to perform strongly, TSMC and ASML in particular, as well as Delivery Hero and French luxury business Kering, which has been improving following some difficult years.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 23, 2026 | View Pitch |
Longriver Investment Partners Graham F. Rhodes | “TSMC is the manufacturing choke point for leading-edge semiconductors. Few rivals can reproduce its yields, scale and execution, while AI provides another growth engine. TSMC's expansion into advanced packaging is a similar effort to squeeze more performance out of the chips it manufactures. Packaging is no longer merely back-end assembly; it is part of the system-scaling problem. The need to design, qualify and coordinate these steps together increases complexity and, therefore, customers' dependence on TSMC to manage them, even if other qualified providers can perform some of the work.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 22, 2026 | View Pitch |
Brown Advisors Global Leaders Strategy Mike Poggi | “We have been invested in TSMC since the inception of the Global Leaders Strategy in 2015. As we have moved through 2026, we have continued to see TSMC raise its capex plans. We attended TSMC's Capital Markets Day in Phoenix in April, held at its new US-based fabs. These increases in capex needs are driven in part by demand from its leading customer, Nvidia. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing benefits from its leadership in advanced node manufacturing, which allows it to gain market share and benefit from strong demand for high-performance computing and AI infrastructure. As we have moved through 2026, TSMC has continued to raise its capex plans, supported in part by demand from Nvidia and other leading AI customers.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 22, 2026 | View Pitch |
Harding Loevner International Equity Maria Lernerman | “Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing or TSMC, the most valuable company outside the US, possesses a widely admired business model. For decades it has gained share in logic chip manufacturing by continually investing to create economies of scale and scope, going farther down the manufacturing experience curve than peers, and developing proprietary manufacturing processes that deliver to customers the most advanced chips at costs competitors cannot match. Manufacturing logic chips for customers such as NVIDIA, Apple, and Qualcomm, TSMC has generally been able to grow its productive assets 10% to 20% annually over the last two decades, with returns on invested capital consistently above its cost of capital. Those returns are attractive, though not exceptionally high, typically ranging from 10% to 15%. In response to rising demand for AI-related semiconductors, TSMC continues to expand capacity in its usual rational manner. As customers ask for ever more capacity, TSMC is pulling additional levers, and charging incrementally higher prices and recognizing higher margins in return. Higher costs and lower utilization rates at its relatively new US fabs remains a counterweight to margins. With supply constrained, TSMC's customer philosophy is to increase pricing sustainably through technological improvements, while still delivering incremental value to customers. Management contrasted this approach with the philosophy of memory semiconductor manufacturers, which have recently increased prices much more dramatically. TSMC is likely to continue growing sales and investments, but at a slower pace; margins could be steady to slightly lower, given the company's pricing contracts with customers. TSMC management recently noted to us that the semiconductor industry has 'never experienced five consecutive strong years.' We also trimmed TSMC three times.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 17, 2026 | View Pitch |
Thornburg Equity Income Builder Fund Matt Burdett, Christian Hoffmann, Brian McMahon | “Leading semiconductor chip foundry, fabricating chips used in many digital devices. +53.4% in 1H 2026, +50.5% in calendar 2025. Dividend yield 1.00% at 30 Jun 2026 price. 5-year local currency dividend growth rate +17.1%/year. Most positive equity contributor to quarterly performance.” | BULL | Q2 2026 Jul 17, 2026 | View Pitch |
“Taiwan Semiconductor was a leading contributor to portfolio performance for the quarter. Leading semiconductor chip foundry, fabricating chips used in many digital devices. Q2 26 return of 41.5% and 1-year return of 112%. FY 2027 estimated EPS growth of 28.2% with P/E of 19.3x. Top 10 holding.” | BULL | Q2 2026 Jul 17, 2026 | View Pitch | |
“TSMC raised its 2026 capex guide to the high end of the $52-56 billion range and disclosed that capex over the next three years will be significantly higher than the past three years ($101 billion). Sell-side consensus currently estimates $197 billion in capex over 2026-28, but we believe that well over $200 billion cumulative capex is plausible considering TSMC is now playing catchup from a capacity perspective. The company has implemented three rounds of leading edge wafer price increases since 2025, with the latest set to occur in 2H 2026 at a reported +15%. These price increases clearly support higher capex plans. An unintended consequence of TSMC's conservative capital investment stance, especially during 2023-24 (remember leading edge fabs take 2-3 years to build and ramp to volume production), is that Intel Foundry has experienced a revival. Based on its qualitative capex outlook, we assume TSMC will continue to add around 100kwpm of leading edge capacity annually, which would require mid-40s EUV units.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 15, 2026 | View Pitch | |
Wedgewood Partners David A. Rolfe, Michael X. Quigley, Christopher T. Jersan | “Another beneficiary of the AI spending boom has been Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. Revenues grew by more than 40% (in USD), on top of 40% growth last year. Its leading-edge fabs and packaging capacity are fully booked, driving margins to all-time highs. Much of this capacity was put in place a few years ago, before generative AI was a household and business-wide term. More recent demand signals from customers - including Nvidia, Broadcom, and even Micron - indicate AI-related growth of over 50% per annum through 2029. Whereas the Company used to have demand visibility only a few quarters out, it now has visibility a few years out. As with long-held portfolio risk mitigation, we limit all positions to 10% weightings. We believe it is prudent to maintain this risk-management limit on the stock, especially given the massive investor inflows into semiconductor-levered stocks and the large speculative ecosystem (e.g., 2x- and 3x-leveraged single-stock ETFs) that has recently sprung up around them.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 15, 2026 | View Pitch |
Mar Vista US Quality Silas Myers, Brian Massey | “Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) delivered a strong quarter and raised its full-year outlook, reflecting continued robust demand for leading-edge semiconductors. The company's technological le” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 13, 2026 | View Pitch |
Mar Vista US Quality Silas Myers, Brian Massey | “Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) delivered a strong quarter and raised its full-year outlook, reflecting continued robust demand for leading-edge semiconductors. The company's technological le” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 13, 2026 | View Pitch |
Thornburg Global Opportunities Fund Brian McMahon | “Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing is the second largest holding. Taiwan-based designer & manufacturer of semiconductors. Returned +54.3% in H1 2026 and +52.9% in calendar 2025. Trailing 5-year revenu” | BULL | Q2 2026 Jul 10, 2026 | View Pitch |
Fundsmith Equity Fund Terry Smith | “Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the world's largest contract chipmaker, physically manufacturing the semiconductors designed by companies like Apple, Broadcom and Nvidia. Its 'moa” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 8, 2026 | View Pitch |
Cooper Investors Global Equities Fund (Unhedged) Cooper Investors Pty Limited | “Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co's (TSMC) stock price has appreciated 66% over the financial year, making it the most significant contributor to performance for FY26 so far. The Fund has been inv” | BULL | Q1 2026 May 13, 2026 | View Pitch |
Bestinfond Mark Giacopazzi | “TSMC has established itself as the strategic 'strait' through which the digital economy transits. While the market is distracted by the sector's supposed cyclical nature, the company boasts an excepti” | BULL | Q1 2026 May 1, 2026 | View Pitch |
Capital International Jon Proudfoot | “TSMC's latest results highlighted accelerating AI demand and reinforced the company's position as a primary beneficiary of that trend. TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei said he personally spoke with the company'” | BULL | Q1 2026 Apr 15, 2026 | View Pitch |
Wedgewood Partners David A. Rolfe, Michael X. Quigley, Christopher T. Jersan | “Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company was a top contributor to portfolio performance in the first quarter. Revenues grew +25%, and the Company guided to accelerating revenue growth to +30% in 202” | BULL | Q1 2026 Apr 13, 2026 | View Pitch |
Hardman Johnston Global Equity Cassandra A. Hardman | “TSMC outperformed as it is increasingly recognized as the key bottleneck governing AI compute capacity growth. Blowout results and capex guidance reinforced exceptional demand, with AI growth expectat” | BULL | Q1 2026 Apr 12, 2026 | View Pitch |
Unison Asset Management Alex and Dan | “All roads—mobile, EVs, cloud computing—run on chips, and all chips lead to TSMC. TSMC controls roughly 67% of global foundry revenue and approximately 90% of leading-edge nodes. It is the sole supplie” | BULL | Q4 2025 Feb 2, 2026 | View Pitch |
Unison Asset Management Alex and Dan | “All roads—mobile, EVs, cloud computing—run on chips, and all chips lead to TSMC. TSMC controls roughly 67% of global foundry revenue and approximately 90% of leading-edge nodes. It is the sole supplier of cutting-edge AI processors and captures more than 100% of industry profits. Despite investing roughly $280 billion in R&D and capex since 2011, TSMC has sustained ROIC north of 20%. The company is mitigating geopolitical risk by expanding advanced fabs in the U.S., Japan, and Germany. At our initial purchase price around $240, shares traded at 18x earnings, a material discount to customers like Nvidia and Apple despite their dependence on TSMC. We believe the market continues to overprice Taiwan risk relative to fundamentals. BSD Analysis: TSMC remains the undisputed backbone of the global semiconductor industry, with its 2026 outlook dominated by the ramp-up of its 2nm process technology. The company is the primary beneficiary of the AI infrastructure boom, producing the high-performance chips required by every major hyperscaler and chip designer. Management's aggressive capital expenditure plans are securing its technological lead, ensuring it remains the sole provider for mission-critical hardware. While geopolitical tensions in the Taiwan Strait act as a valuation overhang, the firm's geographic diversification into Arizona and Germany is beginning to mitigate localized risks. TSMC's superior gross margins and yield rates provide it with unmatched pricing power in the foundry market. For 2026, the stock is a "must-own" for investors seeking concentrated exposure to the industrialization of artificial intelligence.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Feb 2, 2026 | View Pitch |
Wedgewood Partners David A. Rolfe, Michael X. Quigley, Christopher T. Jersan | “Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing also contributed to performance during the quarter. Broadcom's and Nvidia's CEOs have referred to the Company as a "precious source" and "the pride of the world" in silicon manufacturing, as the Company continues to execute flawlessly on its leading-edge node progression and capacity build-out. Its advanced nodes allow accelerator designers greater flexibility to increase performance while limiting power requirements. High-performance computing revenues have doubled to more than $65 billion over the past six quarters, more than triple since late 2021. The Company continues to demonstrate pricing power, which should help drive excellent returns on capital as capacity expands. BSD Analysis: TSMC is the critical bottleneck in advanced chips, and bottlenecks get paid. Its manufacturing leadership is not just scale—it's yield, reliability, and trust built over decades. AI and high-performance compute are increasing silicon intensity, which pulls demand toward leading nodes where TSMC dominates. Capex is enormous, yet competitors can't close the gap without burning money for years. Geopolitics is the headline risk, but it also makes TSMC strategically indispensable to multiple governments. Margins ebb with cycles, but the competitive position rarely changes. Customers design their roadmaps around TSMC's capabilities, not the other way around. This is a global monopoly with a geopolitical discount stapled on.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Jan 8, 2026 | View Pitch |
First Eagle Investments James Fellows | “As the undisputed global leader in semiconductor manufacturing, TSMC dominates the advanced chip foundry market with a share exceeding 60%. The company leverages its unparalleled scale to fund continuous R&D and capital projects, generating strong cash flows and sustainable dividends.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
SGA - Emerging Markets Growth Hrishikesh Gupta | “TSMC was a top contributor during the quarter, driven by robust demand for advanced semiconductor manufacturing and improved gross margins as AI continues to grow strong and the non-AI segment showed signs of recovery. Management raised its revenue growth guidance to the mid-30% range, and given continued strength in demand, AI-related growth targets are expected to move above the current mid-40% level. TSMC's leadership in cutting-edge process nodes remains undisputed. The company raised its CapEx guidance to support future growth and is expected to increase its AI revenue growth target, reflecting confidence in the secular expansion of high-performance computing and AI workloads. Strategic steps to diversify manufacturing outside Taiwan, including new facilities in Japan, Germany, and the U.S., further strengthen TSMC's position. With its technology leadership, strong customer relationships, and disciplined execution, TSMC remains well-positioned to deliver strong double-digit revenue and earnings growth over the coming years. BSD Analysis: TSMC remains the undisputed backbone of the global AI hardware era, confirming in early 2026 that its revolutionary 2nm (N2) process has successfully transitioned to mass production. The company is currently seeing the "fiercest competition yet" among AI giants like NVIDIA, AMD, and Apple for its N2 capacity, as the industry races to leverage Gate-all-around (GAA) transistors for superior energy efficiency. Strategic geographic diversification is also accelerating, with reports in February 2026 indicating a new $17 billion investment to bring advanced 3nm production to Kumamoto, Japan, supported by heavy government subsidies. While U.S. export controls have transitioned to a more restrictive annual license regime for its China-based fabs, TSMC's leading-edge dominance in Taiwan and expansion in Arizona ensure it remains the sole provider for mission-critical AI silicon.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
AGT Partners Greg | “TSMC continues to perform well beyond our expectations. In 2025, revenue grew by 36% in USD, largely driven by AI-related demand. Even more impressive was the improvement in gross margin, a result of TSMC's excellent cost improvement efforts and higher capacity utilization rate due to strong demand for their chips. Coupled with operating leverage, earnings per share increased by 46.4%. ROE also increased from 30.3% in 2024 to 35.4% in 2025. During their most recent earnings call, management guided for another ~30% increase in revenue in USD in 2026 and revised up their 5-year revenue CAGR guidance (2024 to 2029) from ~20% to ~25%. We could not be more impressed with the continued strong execution from TSMC's management team. These results are a function of what TSMC calls their Trinity of Strengths: Technology Leadership, Manufacturing Excellence and Customer Trust. A key risk is whether there is an AI bubble, especially given TSMC's plans to spend up to US$56 billion in capital expenditures in 2026. These investments will allow TSMC to manufacture more chips in 2028/2029 — it takes time for these giant facilities to be built and to be ready for production. But if demand were to taper off, the newly built capacity may be underutilized, which will significantly impact TSMC's profits. In response, management has been verifying demand with customers and cloud providers before committing such big investments. TSMC is one of the most important semiconductor companies in the world, and we continue to believe that their Trinity of Strengths positions them well for sustained success in an increasingly high computing era. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1} BSD Analysis: TSMC enters 2026 with an unprecedented revenue growth forecast of nearly thirty percent, fueled by insatiable global demand for advanced AI and high-performance computing chips. As the sole manufacturer of the world's most sophisticated logic chips for Apple and NVIDIA, the company holds a near-monopoly position at the leading edge of the 2-nanometer and 3-nanometer nodes. Management's revised long-term guidance points to a 25 percent compound annual growth rate through 2029, a remarkable feat for a company of its massive scale. Despite geopolitical tensions, TSMC's expansion of manufacturing capacity in the United States and Japan is diversifying its operational risk and securing its role in the global supply chain. Trading at a discount to many of its big tech customers, the stock remains one of the most compelling value propositions in the entire technology sector.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
Eagle Capital Management Ravenel B. Curry III | “TSMC is the world's dominant pure play semiconductor foundry, manufacturing more than 90% of advanced logic chips for fabless designers including Apple, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Broadcom, and AMD. The company's scale advantages and process technology leadership create a deep moat. TSMC is both broadly diversified and at the epicenter of the AI infrastructure buildout. Eagle established its position in 2023 during an industry downturn. The company is significantly increasing capex in Taiwan and globally to meet growing demand. As complexity increases, TSMC is raising prices accordingly. While we expect competitors to make progress, TSMC is vastly larger and technologically ahead. Moreover, there is a natural scale effect that consolidates the broad base of fabless semiconductor design firms as customers of a single, efficient, capital-intensive manufacturer. We expect the company's EPS to grow by approximately 20% annually over the next five years. BSD Analysis: TSMC is the single most critical manufacturing choke point in modern technology. Every serious AI, HPC, and advanced-node roadmap runs through its fabs. Capital intensity is brutal, which is exactly why the moat is real. Investors fixate on geopolitics and miss technological leadership that hasn't cracked. Yield, scale, and execution discipline separate TSMC from aspirants. Cycles hit margins, not relevance. This is monopoly-like manufacturing hiding behind a foundry label.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
Columbia Global Technology Growth Fund Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC | “Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) returned strong double digits during the quarter, as overwhelming AI chip demand from key customers including NVIDIA and Apple validated the company's central role in the AI supply chain. TSM reported bullish quarterly results and raised forward growth expectations, citing exponential growth in AI token consumption that requires continuous capacity expansion. At quarter-end, the company announced production had begun for its next-generation two-nanometer technology. Shares of TSM rose over 50% during 2025. BSD Analysis: TSMC is the most critical manufacturer in the global technology supply chain. Advanced chips for AI, high-performance computing, and mobile all depend on its fabs. Capex is enormous, but competitors can't match yield, scale, or trust. Customers design chips around TSMC's process nodes, not alternatives. Geopolitics dominate headlines but ensure strategic backing. Margins cycle, dominance does not. Investors debate valuation endlessly. The world's digital economy runs through TSMC. This is monopoly manufacturing with geopolitical noise.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
First Eagle Investments James Fellows | “Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) is by far the world's largest semiconductor foundry and is the primary manufacturer of the next-gen chips used in generative AI by customers like Apple, Nvidia and Intel. The company maintains a 60%-plus share of a market that is projected to experience continued strong growth. TSMC's scale helps it to continually reinforce its advantaged market position, generating significant revenues that the company reinvests into research and design and capex. Strong cash flows have enabled TSMC to maintain attractive dividend levels over time, resulting in attractive total returns for a stock we first purchased in 2018. BSD Analysis: TSMC is positioned at the center of the global AI and advanced computing supply chain, with unmatched scale and process leadership. Its dominant market share creates barriers to entry that are effectively insurmountable for competitors. Heavy reinvestment sustains technology leadership and long-term pricing power, while robust free cash flow supports dividends. Valuation is supported by secular growth rather than cyclical demand alone. Key risks include geopolitical tensions and semiconductor cycle volatility, but strategic importance provides resilience.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
Cooper Investors Global Equities Fund (Unhedged) Cooper Investors Pty Limited | “Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the world's largest semiconductor foundry. The Fund has been invested in TSMC since May 2020. Over this period, the company has cemented its position as the leading manufacturer of advanced chips and delivered Earnings per Share growth of close to 30% per annum. More recent growth has been fuelled by the demand for chips used in High-Performance Computing applications, or AI. Semiconductor proliferation and increasing manufacturing complexity place TSMC in an increasingly important position. TSMC has a near-monopoly position in the manufacture of leading-edge chips and will thrive as long as the industry continues to push the performance envelope. We expect TSMC's earnings growth to remain in the low-20% per annum range. BSD Analysis: TSMC's moat is manufacturing capability so advanced that customers default to it rather than choose it. At the leading edge, there is no viable alternative at scale. Capex is enormous, but skipping it would be strategic suicide. Cycles hurt earnings, not relevance. Pricing power flows from scarcity and switching impossibility, not negotiation. The real risk is geopolitical concentration, not technology displacement. Customers accept margin sharing because failure isn't an option. The bull case is AI and advanced compute locking in capacity for years. TSMC is a strategic asset disguised as a cyclical stock.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
SGA - Global Growth Hrishikesh Gupta | “TSMC was a top contributor during the quarter, driven by robust demand for advanced semiconductor manufacturing and improved gross margins as AI continues to grow strong and the non-AI segment showed signs of recovery. Management raised its revenue growth guidance to the mid-30% range, and given continued strength in demand, AI-related growth targets are expected to move above the current mid-40% level. TSMC's leadership in cutting-edge process nodes remains undisputed. The company raised its CapEx guidance to support future growth and is expected to increase its AI revenue growth target, reflecting confidence in the secular expansion of high-performance computing and AI workloads. Strategic steps to diversify manufacturing outside Taiwan, including new facilities in Japan, Germany, and the U.S., further strengthen TSMC's position. With its technology leadership, strong customer relationships, and disciplined execution, TSMC remains well-positioned to deliver strong double-digit revenue and earnings growth over the coming years. We raised the position target to an above-average weight during the quarter. BSD Analysis: TSMC is the single most important choke point in the global technology stack, yet it still trades like a cyclical supplier. Every serious AI, HPC, and advanced-node roadmap runs through its fabs whether customers like the dependency or not. Yield, scale, and execution — not branding — are the moat, and no one is close at the leading edge. Capital intensity scares investors, but it also makes competition economically irrational. Geopolitical risk dominates headlines while simultaneously guaranteeing strategic indispensability. Margins swing with cycles, but technological leadership does not. This is monopoly-like manufacturing hiding behind a foundry label.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
Baron Durable Advantage Fund Alex Umansky | “Semiconductor giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) contributed to performance during the quarter with shares up 9.0%, and up 55.5% in 2025, driven by robust demand for AI chips. After reporting its most recent quarterly results, TSMC raised its 2025 revenue growth guidance from “close to mid-20s%” year-on-year in the first quarter to “around 30%” in the second, and now to “close to mid-30s%” (in USD terms) as “AI demand continues to be very strong, even stronger than we thought three months ago”. We believe that TSMC's competitive position in leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing remains unmatched with a 90% market share (and 65% overall). TSMC's unique positioning in the market is underlined by the company's ability to raise prices as demand for its next generation nodes continues to be robust. We also believe that TSMC will benefit from a long duration of growth underpinned by the AI buildout. Note that TSMC will benefit regardless of the ultimate market share split between NVIDIA, Advanced Micro Devices, OpenAI, or Anthropic and whether ASICs would garner any significant market share. It's the ultimate picks and shovels supplier to AI. BSD Analysis: TSMC's moat is manufacturing capability so advanced that customers default to it rather than choose it. At the leading edge, there is no real alternative at scale, which is monopoly physics disguised as competition. Capex is enormous and unavoidable—skipping it would be strategic suicide. Cycles punish earnings, not relevance. Pricing power flows from scarcity and switching impossibility, not negotiation. The real risk is geopolitical concentration, not customer churn or technology leapfrogging. Customers accept margin sharing because failure isn't an option. The bull case is AI and advanced compute locking in capacity for years. TSMC is a strategic asset masquerading as a cyclical stock.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
Baron Emerging Markets Fund Michael Kass | “Semiconductor giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) contributed to performance during the quarter, driven by robust demand for AI chips. We retain conviction that TSMC's technological leadership, pricing power, and exposure to secular growth markets—including AI and high-performance computing, automotive, 5G, and Internet of Things—will allow the company to sustain strong double-digit earnings growth over the next several years. TSMC continues to benefit from its unmatched scale and process technology, which create high barriers to entry. Its advanced-node leadership positions it at the center of global AI and data center investment. We believe these advantages support durable long-term value creation. BSD Analysis: TSMC remains the undisputed backbone of the global technology ecosystem, holding a dominant market share in the world's most advanced semiconductor manufacturing. The company is the primary beneficiary of the AI infrastructure boom, as it produces nearly all of the world's high-performance AI accelerators for leaders like NVIDIA and AMD. For 2026, the investment case is bolstered by the successful ramp-up of 2nm mass production, which maintains TSMC's technological lead over its competitors by at least two generations. Massive capital expenditures in both Taiwan and the United States are expanding capacity to meet insatiable demand from hyperscalers and smartphone manufacturers. Despite geopolitical concerns, TSMC's superior yield rates and deep customer relationships create a formidable moat that is difficult to replicate. With revenue projected to grow at a nearly 30% clip, TSM remains an essential holding for any growth-oriented technology portfolio.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
Mar Vista US Quality Silas Myers, Brian Massey | “Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) is the dominant manufacturer of semiconductors for the world's leading fabless chip designers including NVIDIA, Apple, Broadcom, and others. TSM is the world's preeminent semiconductor foundry due to its leadership position in producing the most advanced chips that power the world's most sophisticated supercomputers, personal computers, and mobile devices. It is also one of only two manufacturers that operates at the leading edge of semiconductor process technology. This technological leadership, reinforced by scale economies, proprietary process know-how, and decades of accumulated manufacturing expertise, creates a formidable competitive moat that is increasingly difficult for other foundries to replicate. As a result, TSM earns structurally higher gross margins than its peers through a combination of technology-driven pricing power and superior manufacturing efficiency. TSM has also benefited from ongoing consolidation within the semiconductor industry, which has accelerated demand for integrated systems built on the most advanced process nodes. At the same time, the rapid growth of artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, and the Internet of Things is driving sustained demand for leading-edge semiconductors, as computing becomes increasingly intelligent and interconnected. We believe the global arms race to develop artificial general intelligence will support multiple years of robust growth for foundries with true leading-edge capabilities. TSM is uniquely positioned to benefit regardless of which fabless chip architecture ultimately dominates high-performance computing, as its customers span the full spectrum of leading AI, CPU, GPU, and custom accelerator designs. Semiconductor manufacturing is inherently cyclical and capital intensive, yet we believe these factors further strengthen TSM's moat rather than weaken it. The escalating cost and complexity of advanced-node fabrication requires tens of billions of dollars in sustained annual capital expenditures, which raises the barriers to entry and constrains credible competition. During industry downturns, TSM's scale, balance sheet strength, and customer entrenchment should allow it to continue investing through the cycle, widening the technology gap versus smaller or less well-capitalized peers. We believe these structural advantages should enable TSM to generate returns on invested capital well above its cost of capital across the business cycle and to compound intrinsic value at rates meaningfully in excess of broader market growth over our investment horizon. BSD Analysis: TSMC is pitched as a scarce asset in the AI era: the leading-edge foundry with process leadership, scale economies, and deep manufacturing know-how that is hard to replicate. AI, high-performance computing, and IoT are driving sustained demand for advanced nodes, and consolidation among fabless designers increases reliance on best-in-class foundries. Capital intensity raises barriers to entry, allowing TSMC to keep widening its technology gap through cycles. That moat should support structurally higher margins and ROIC versus peers over time. The key bull driver is that TSMC wins regardless of which fabless architecture dominates, because it manufactures for the leading designers across the ecosystem. Risks include geopolitics, export controls, and the inherent cyclicality of semis, but the pitch emphasizes scale and balance sheet strength as cycle defenses.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
Platinum Asia Fund Cameron Robertson | “Platinum's core semiconductor holdings – SK hynix, Samsung Electronics and TSMC – were all up strongly. Asian markets continued their good performance with Artificial Intelligence (AI) businesses strongly in demand, and the tech-heavy markets of South Korea and Taiwan led the region. TSMC benefited from extremely strong demand and industry-leading manufacturing capabilities. The company is expanding in Taiwan and making large manufacturing investments in the U.S. and other international markets. Financial performance continues to exceed our expectations and we believe the business has a long runway for future growth. BSD Analysis: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is the single most important manufacturer in the global technology ecosystem. Every serious AI, high-performance computing, and advanced mobile roadmap ultimately runs through TSMC's fabs. Customers design chips around TSMC's process nodes because no competitor can match its yield, scale, or execution consistency. The capital intensity is enormous, but it reinforces the moat rather than weakening it. Geopolitical risk dominates headlines, yet it also guarantees strategic backing from customers and governments alike. Margins move with cycles, but technological leadership does not. Investors debate valuation while dependency quietly deepens. This is monopoly-like manufacturing with political noise layered on top. The digital economy quite literally runs through TSMC.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
Platinum International Fund David Steinthal | “Taiwan's TSMC is the leading manufacturer of semiconductor chips used in AI, mobile phone and other applications. It benefits from extremely strong demand and has industry-leading manufacturing capabilities. It is expanding in Taiwan and making large manufacturing investments in the U.S. and other international markets. Financial performance continues to exceed our expectations and we believe the business has a long runway for future growth. BSD Analysis: TSMC is the most critical manufacturer in the global technology stack. Advanced chips for AI, high-performance computing, and mobile all depend on its fabs. Customers design roadmaps around TSMC's nodes, not competitors'. Capex is enormous, but no rival matches yield, scale, or trust. Geopolitics dominate headlines while guaranteeing strategic backing. Margins cycle, dominance does not. Investors debate valuation endlessly. The digital world runs through TSMC.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
Magellan Global Opportunities Fund No. 1 Alan Pullen | “TSMC was one of the largest contributors to portfolio performance during the quarter, closing at record highs as demand for semiconductors used in artificial intelligence applications remained exceptionally strong. Management highlighted “insane” levels of AI-related demand, reinforcing confidence in sustained utilization and pricing. The company began mass production of 2nm chips using its new Gate-All-Around architecture, further extending its technology lead at the cutting edge. As an agnostic supplier to all major AI chip designers, TSMC continues to benefit regardless of shifts in end-customer market share. We believe its dominant position at advanced nodes positions the company to compound earnings as compute intensity rises globally. BSD Analysis: TSMC's moat is existential: it manufactures chips no one else on earth can reliably make at scale. Customers don't “choose” TSMC at the leading edge—they default to it because there is no substitute. That monopoly-like position is earned through decades of process discipline, supplier integration, and brutal capital intensity. Cyclicality hits earnings hard, but it never questions relevance. The real risk is geopolitical concentration, not competition or demand. Capex is enormous, but skipping it would be strategic suicide. Pricing power comes from scarcity and switching impossibility, not negotiation skill. TSMC is a strategic asset masquerading as a cyclical stock—and the market keeps mispricing which part matters more.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
L1 Capital International Fund David Steinthal | “TSMC is the leading manufacturer of semiconductor chips used in AI, mobile phone and other applications. TSMC continues to benefit from extremely strong demand conditions and industry-leading manufacturing capabilities. Capacity has been expanded domestically in Taiwan, as well as large investments in manufacturing in the U.S. and other international markets. Financial performance continues to exceed base case expectations, and we believe the business has a long runway for future growth. Following substantial share price outperformance, TSMC is trading within our assessed fair value range but remains a top 10 holding. BSD Analysis: TSMC is the most important manufacturing company on the planet, even if most consumers have never heard of it. It sits at the choke point of advanced semiconductor production, supplying everyone from Apple to Nvidia. Capex intensity is massive, but no competitor can match its scale, yields, or customer trust. Geopolitical risk dominates the narrative, yet global governments are effectively underwriting TSMC's strategic importance. Margins fluctuate, but technological leadership remains intact. Every AI, HPC, and advanced-node roadmap runs through TSMC. This is a monopoly with global backing — and global anxiety.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
Third Point Partners Daniel S. Loeb | “Third Point's investments in semiconductor leaders, including TSMC, benefited from accelerating AI infrastructure spending and persistent compute shortages. TSMC remains central to global chip production, with expanding capacity at advanced 3nm and 2nm nodes. The company's exposure to high-margin AI processors and strategic partnerships with NVIDIA and Apple reinforce its competitive position. BSD Analysis: TSMC remains the backbone of global chip fabrication, operating with unmatched scale and process leadership. Its dominance in cutting-edge nodes and diversified client base drive consistent free cash flow growth. With gross margins near 55% and long-term AI-related demand accelerating, valuation at ~17x forward earnings appears compelling relative to quality and market position.” | BULL | Q3 2025 Oct 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund Alex Umansky | “We continued to build our position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC). We believe that while near-term uncertainty is heightened due to the developing ChinaxFFFEU.S. geopolitical relations, TSMC's competitive positioning in leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing remains unmatched with a 90% market share (and 65% overall). TSMC's unique positioning in the market is underlined with the company's ability to raise prices as demand for its next generation nodes continues to be robust – this should also enable TSMC to offset any margin pressures from cost inflation or the headwinds from opening fabs in the U.S. at an accelerated pace. We also believe that TSMC will benefit from a long duration of growth as the adoption of AI continues to accelerate. Note that TSMC will benefit regardless of the ultimate market share split between NVIDIA, Advanced Micro Devices, OpenAI, or Anthropic and whether application-specific integrated circuits would garner any significant market share. It's the ultimate picks and shovels supplier to AI. BSD Analysis: TSMC is the single most important company in global technology manufacturing. Its moat is execution at the atomic level, reinforced by trust and scale no rival can match. Leading-edge pricing power is real because customers have no credible alternatives. The discount exists for one reason: geopolitics. Capex is enormous, but returns justify it because the industry has consolidated around winners. Any disruption would be catastrophic, which paradoxically reinforces global dependence. If Taiwan risk never materializes, the stock is mispriced. If it does, valuation is irrelevant. TSMC is excellence with existential beta.” | BULL | Q3 2025 Sep 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
Platinum International Fund David Steinthal | “TSMC rose 20% during the quarter as AI-related chip demand surged. Platinum highlighted its central role in the AI revolution, manufacturing advanced nodes critical for AI accelerators. The firm emphasized its strategic dominance and pricing power in the global semiconductor supply chain. BSD Analysis: TSMC remains the ultimate AI bottleneck — the single most important manufacturing partner for advanced compute on earth. CoWoS capacity expansion is running at breakneck speed, and 2nm development is on track. Profitability is improving as supply tightens and pricing power returns. Investors continue to discount geopolitical risk while ignoring technological dominance. Every major chipmaker is structurally dependent on TSMC. This isn't just a foundry; it's the cornerstone of global silicon. A near-monopoly with decades of runway.” | BULL | Q3 2025 Sep 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
Antero Peak Group Christopher Smith | “Antero Peak views TSMC as critical infrastructure within the “Technology and Power” theme, linking semiconductor production to the AI buildout. The firm highlights TSMC's role as NVIDIA and Broadcom's key manufacturing partner and notes that the global data center power load could reach 50 GW by 2028. This structural demand supports sustained capacity utilization and pricing power. BSD Analysis: TSMC benefits from entrenched scale advantages and long-term secular demand for advanced nodes (3nm/2nm). Capex normalization and margin recovery into 2026–2027 should support double-digit EPS growth. Trading at ~18× forward earnings, valuation remains attractive relative to foundry peers given geopolitical and execution resilience.” | BULL | Q3 2025 Sep 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
Stenham Asset Management Kevin Arenson, Akshay Krishnan & Tim Beck | “TSMC is the world's leading manufacturer of semiconductors, including those used in AI applications. Whilst the company has benefitted from the current demand environment, its position as a capacity-constrained near-monopoly in leading-edge chipmaking helps their ability to allocate capacity towards a variety of long-term secular growth trends if required. BSD Analysis: Stenham maintains a bullish stance on TSMC as the key enabler of global semiconductor manufacturing. With industry-leading process technology and structural pricing power, the firm trades near 17x forward earnings with strong ROIC. Capital intensity remains high but manageable given its near-monopoly scale.” | BULL | Q3 2025 Sep 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
ClearBridge Investments Large Cap Value Dmitry Khaykin, Deepon Nag | “In the semiconductor sector, we trimmed our position in Taiwan Semiconductor to manage the risk amid intensified geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China in 2025, directing the proceeds into the purchase of a position in Broadcom. Adding Broadcom, a leader in semiconductor design for communications and networking devices, enables the Strategy to better participate in the development of custom silicon chips for AI computing. Broadcom is well-positioned for continued healthy investment in AI, working with several large technology companies to develop custom silicon that we expect to grow alongside robust demand for Nvidia's all-purpose GPUs. The company's cloud infrastructure software business should also continue to grow for the next several years given its entrenched position within enterprises. BSD Analysis: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSM) TSMC is the world's most critical industrial bottleneck, possessing a technological monopoly on cutting-edge chip fabrication that no competitor, not even Intel, can currently match. Its dominance in the 3nm and 2nm nodes makes it the indispensable partner for every major AI and hyperscale company, effectively acting as a massive, high-margin, capital-equipment-as-a-service provider. The stock is a direct, leveraged play on the secular growth of AI and advanced computing, with its geopolitical risk—the Taiwan contingency—serving as the only significant factor depressing its multiple. Buying TSM is a high-conviction bet that the global reliance on its fabrication technology creates a "silicon shield" that will protect its commercial advantage and ensure continued state-level support.” | BULL | Q2 2025 Jun 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
ClearBridge Investments Large Cap Growth Strategy Erica Furfaro, Margaret Vitrano | “In the semiconductor sector, we trimmed our position in Taiwan Semiconductor to manage the risk amid intensified geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China in 2025, directing the proceeds into the purchase of a position in Broadcom. Adding Broadcom, a leader in semiconductor design for communications and networking devices, enables the Strategy to better participate in the development of custom silicon chips for AI computing. Broadcom is well-positioned for continued healthy investment in AI, working with several large technology companies to develop custom silicon that we expect to grow alongside robust demand for Nvidia's all-purpose GPUs. The company's cloud infrastructure software business should also continue to grow for the next several years given its entrenched position within enterprises. BSD Analysis: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited is the unassailable design kingmaker of the semiconductor industry, holding a near-duopoly over the mission-critical Electronic Design Automation (EDA) market. The company's true growth engine is the Synopsys.ai suite, an AI-driven toolchain that automates complex chip design, drastically accelerating time-to-market and compounding productivity for every major chipmaker. The strategic logic is undeniable: the colossal $2 billion investment from NVIDIA permanently locks its tools into the dominant CUDA/GPU ecosystem for a strategic advantage. This non-cyclical software generates high-quality, time-based subscription revenue with best-in-class gross margins near 80%. The Ansys acquisition further solidified its verification moat, making the integrated platform structurally indispensable to the AI buildout. The stock's recent pullback was a massive market misjudgment, creating a clear entry point for a company poised to drive exponential ARPU expansion through its core design licenses.” | BULL | Q2 2025 Jun 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
Hardman Johnston International Equity Cassandra A. Hardman | “Taiwan Semiconductor's dominance in leading edge semiconductor manufacturing continues to expand, as shortfalls at Samsung and Intel in the quarter reinforced a current state of monopoly, driving multiple expansion in the back half of the quarter. Beyond its widening lead vs. competition, TSMC posted incredibly robust monthly sales results in April and May, to levels that all but guarantee a 2Q sales beat and upward revisions on earnings expectations. Strong results are primarily related to unmitigated demand for Al accelerators, where TSMC is effectively the sole foundry supplier at this time. The multiple on TSMC stock should also continue to benefit from its accelerated expansion of manufacturing in the United States, which geographically diversifies a growing portion of its leading-edge manufacturing capacity. BSD Analysis: TSMC is the irreplaceable foundry for the world's most advanced chips, powering everything from AI to smartphones to high-performance compute. Its process leadership and scale advantage remain enormous, with customers effectively locked in due to manufacturing complexity. AI accelerators are becoming a major growth driver, absorbing cutting-edge capacity at premium pricing. Geopolitical noise is ever-present, but TSMC's global expansion into Japan and the U.S. helps mitigate some concentration risk. Margins remain strong because leading-edge wafers are high-value and capacity is perennially tight. No other foundry is close to matching TSMC's roadmap execution. It is arguably the most strategically important manufacturing company on the planet.” | BULL | Q2 2025 Jun 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
Hardman Johnston Global Equity Cassandra A. Hardman | “Taiwan Semiconductor's dominance in leading edge semiconductor manufacturing continues to expand, as shortfalls at Samsung and Intel in the quarter reinforced a current state of monopoly, driving multiple expansion in the back half of the quarter. Beyond its widening lead vs. competition, TSMC posted incredibly robust monthly sales results in April and May, to levels that all but guarantee a 2Q sales beat and upward revisions on earnings expectations. Strong results are primarily related to unmitigated demand for Al accelerators, where TSMC is effectively the sole foundry supplier at this time. The multiple on TSMC stock should also continue to benefit from its accelerated expansion of manufacturing in the United States, which geographically diversifies a growing portion of its leading-edge manufacturing capacity. BSD Analysis: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) is the unassailable picks-and-shovels provider for the global AI revolution, with its stock trading at a compelling discount to its strategic importance. The company's monopolistic dominance in cutting-edge nodes (3nm, 2nm) and its proprietary CoWoS advanced packaging are mission-critical for every major AI chip designer, including NVIDIA, Apple, and AMD. Despite massive CapEx programs for international expansion, TSMC maintains an exceptional profitability profile, with long-term gross margins targeted above 53% due to its technological lead and pricing power. The surge in AI demand is so robust that the company's CoWoS capacity remains constrained through 2026, underscoring the structural, multi-year tailwind for its highest-value services. While its current P/E multiple (∼23x) is a premium to its history, it remains substantially below NVIDIA (∼54x) and ASML (∼36x), making it a more balanced play on sustained structural growth. This combination of unmatched scale, strong cash position, and its role as the foundry foundation of the AI era makes TSMC an indispensable compounder.” | BULL | Q2 2025 Jun 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
Platinum Asia Fund Cameron Robertson | “TSMC continues to benefit from its dominant position in advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Demand for leading-edge chips is being driven by artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, and advanced mobile applications. Its scale, technological leadership, and customer relationships create formidable barriers to entry. Capital intensity limits competition while ensuring long-term relevance. We view TSMC as a core holding leveraged to secular semiconductor demand. BSD Analysis: TSMC is the most important manufacturing company on earth — the linchpin of advanced semiconductors globally. Its lead in process technology remains years ahead of competitors. AI accelerators, HPC, smartphones, and automotive chips all depend on TSMC's cutting-edge nodes. Geopolitical risk is the permanent tax investors pay, but diversification into Japan and the U.S. helps. Margins are exceptional for a manufacturer due to pricing power and scale. TSMC is an irreplaceable asset in global tech. Long-term secular winner with strategic indispensability.” | BULL | Q2 2025 Jun 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
Magellan Global Opportunities Fund Alan Pullen | “The world is undergoing a series of major technological transformations. From next-generation mobility and automation to cloud and AI-driven computing, the number of use cases underpinned by semiconductors continues to grow. As these technologies become more widespread and sophisticated, so too does our collective demand for these chips. Semiconductors are the enablers of modern technology. They are embedded in virtually every device and system that permeates the modern economy, powering everything from smartphones and laptops to electric vehicles and data centres. Global chip demand is expected to double over the decade to 2030, with industry forecasts predicting worldwide semiconductor spend to reach US$1 trillion by 2030. But not all semiconductor companies are made alike. This is a vast ecosystem spanning intellectual property, design software, specialty materials, fabrication equipment and manufacturing. Within that ecosystem, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) plays a unique and indispensable role as the world's leading dedicated foundry, manufacturing chips on behalf of other companies. What makes its business so defensible is the extreme complexity and capital intensity of advanced chip manufacturing. Building just a single, advanced fab with a moderate output capacity can cost US$20 billion today. That cost will continue to rise as the industry maintains its relentless pursuit of computing performance and efficiency. TSMC's ability to make these investments and keep its expensive fabs utilised by manufacturing thousands of different products while pushing the frontiers of semiconductor technology is unmatched. This has created a powerful industry dynamic. While many companies are designing chips, very few can manufacture them. The economics almost always favour outsourcing, and TSMC has emerged as the foundry partner of choice. The company commands a 67% share of the foundry market – more than five times its nearest competitor. In advanced manufacturing, used in applications such as data centres and smartphones, TSMC dominates with 90% market share. TSMC's dominance is not just a function of cost and scale. It is also about customer trust, operational excellence, and long-term commitment to R&D, which has made it a critical enabler of global innovation. To support its customers' supply chain resilience, TSMC has increasingly diversified its manufacturing footprint outside Taiwan. The most significant of these efforts is in the United States, where it is building advanced fabs in Arizona and recently committed an additional US$100 billion investment over the next several years. These moves reduce geographic concentration risk and signal TSMC's role as a critical strategic supplier. With a strong long-term demand outlook, widening technological lead, expanding scale, and a near-monopoly on the most advanced chipmaking capabilities, TSMC is uniquely positioned in the semiconductor landscape. An investment in TSMC offers a highly attractive exposure to the future of technology. BSD Analysis: TSMC is the irreplaceable foundry for the world's most advanced chips, a position that gives it both geopolitical stress and unmatched pricing power. AI accelerators, high-end CPUs, and smartphone SoCs all increasingly depend on TSMC's leading-edge nodes. The capex bill is massive, but so are the barriers to entry—no one else is realistically catching up in the next several years. Geopolitical risk around Taiwan is the tax you pay to own the single most strategic manufacturing asset in tech. The company is diversifying fabs into Japan and the U.S., which helps but doesn't erase that overhang. Margins remain elite because leading-edge wafers command premium pricing and capacity is structurally constrained. For investors willing to live with the macro noise, this is as “core to global silicon” as it gets.” | BULL | Q2 2025 Jun 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
First Eagle Global Fund First Eagle Investment Management, LLC | “Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) is the world's largest semiconductor foundry, a primary manufacturer of advanced chips used in generative artificial intelligence with Nvidia, Broadcom, Intel, Advanced Micro Devices and Apple among its clients. TSMC reported continued strong sales during the quarter, with an expanded contribution from AI. We believe TSMC has extended its edge over competitors to become the de facto foundry for many customers. The company has made significant efforts in recent years to geographically diversify its manufacturing base, including in the US. BSD Analysis: TSMC's monthly sales data show revenue growing more than 30% year over year in recent periods, driven by leading-edge nodes used in AI and high-performance computing. Gross margins remain among the highest in the industry, reflecting its technological lead and pricing power at 3- and 5-nanometer processes. The company is investing aggressively in new fabs in the US and other regions, which creates near-term capex headwinds but strengthens geopolitical resilience and customer stickiness. Shares trade at a premium to the broader semiconductor group on earnings and EV/EBITDA, justified by its dominant share in leading-edge foundry and long-run AI demand. For long-term investors, execution on overseas fabs and continued process leadership are the key variables, but the structural positioning is highly attractive.” | BULL | Q2 2025 Jun 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
Baillie Gifford -International All Cap Tom Coutts | “TSMC continues to deliver outstanding annual growth of approximately 30 percent while trading at highly reasonable valuations. The management team has also proven highly capable by profitably establishing manufacturing capacity in the US, demonstrating strong execution.” | BULL | Q1 2025 Apr 1, 2025 | View Pitch |
Cooper Investors Global Equities Fund (Unhedged) Cooper Investors Pty Limited | “Despite short-term market anxieties regarding normalization in AI chip demand, TSMC's position as the dominant manufacturer of advanced chips remains intact. Secular tailwinds from semiconductor proliferation and manufacturing complexity should support robust mid-to-high teens earnings growth over the long run, which is undervalued by the market.” | BULL | Q1 2025 Mar 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
Munro Global Growth Fund Nick Griffin | “TSMC is positioned as the dominant global semiconductor foundry benefiting from multi-year tailwinds in AI server compute and edge hardware content growth. Management expects AI server revenues to compound at a 50% CAGR through 2028 and considers the current valuation attractive relative to long-term earnings potential.” | BULL | Q2 2024 Jun 30, 2024 | View Pitch |
Each excerpt above is the manager's commentary on this ticker specifically. The full letter has the rest of their portfolio thinking, risk discussion, and broader institutional context.