As Taiwan's stock market soared this year, being one of the best performers in the world, real estate worker Lucas Chen moved to borrow NT$5 million ($157,330) to buy tech shares, and within six months, he says he quadrupled his money.
Chen is one of a growing number of people using debt to buy into the island's stock market, which soared 59% in the first half of the year thanks to booming demand for artificial intelligence hardware made by chip giant TSMC and others.
But while the prospect of vast returns has lured and repaid many, others have suffered hefty losses or been tricked by scammers, prompting authorities to issue warnings about the risks.
"The first half of the year was really crazy. It was absolutely wild," said Chen, who makes a base salary of up to NT$50,000 ($1,500) from his job.
The 34-year-old began trading in the stock market 10 years ago, saving up his bonuses to buy chip titan TSMC, which accounted for about 45% of the Taiwan Stock Exchange at the end of 2025.
