Bloomberg
After several years flying high as Asia’s best Nvidia Corp proxy, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is increasingly vying with other artificial intelligence (AI) stocks for investor attention.Stock traders are chasing a wider array of beneficiaries as mainstream usage of AI creates demand for hardware beyond the most-advanced chips TSMC makes for Nvidia. Subthemes from the deepening memory crunch to advances in robotics are also luring bids.At the same time, investment caps on single stocks are pushing funds to diversify, while retail investors long familiar with TSMC through its US depositary receipts are being offered a broader set of Asian tech alternatives.
A cameraman films TSMC stock prices at the Taiwan Stock Exchange in Taipei on April 21.
As a result, TSMC shares are underperforming those of local chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) by the most on record, on an annual basis. Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics Co, the world’s largest memory maker, has narrowed its market valuation gap with TSMC to join it in the elite US$1 trillion club.There is a “structural diversification away from TSMC,” Rayliant Global Advisors chief investment officer Jason Hsu said, adding that new capital being raised in funds is “disproportionately going to other tech companies which also benefit from the record AI capex.”
