Taiwan’s retail investors are loading up on borrowed money to ride the AI wave. Margin debt has climbed by more than $13 billion, reaching its highest level since September 2000.
The catalyst is no mystery. TSMC, the chipmaker that manufactures the silicon brains powering the global AI boom, now accounts for more than 40% of Taiwan’s benchmark index. Its shares have more than doubled over the past year.
The margin debt surge
The pace of borrowing has been staggering. Around late May and early June 2026, margin debt spiked by NT$21.3 billion, roughly $680 million, in a single day.
To put that in context, Taiwan’s total equity market capitalization has reached approximately $4.95 trillion. That’s enough to briefly surpass India’s stock market cap, a country with about 60 times Taiwan’s population. The benchmark index touched records near 45,614 points in early June, its highest level in 25 years.
