TSMC stock rose more than 4% in Taiwan on Wednesday after the world’s largest contract chipmaker approved investments of up to $1 billion in OpenAI and Anthropic, extending its exposure to artificial intelligence beyond semiconductor manufacturing.
The board authorised as much as $500 million for each company, while October revenue surged 59.7% from a year earlier to a record NT$586.89 billion.
The investments come as Wall Street questions whether enormous AI infrastructure spending can deliver sustainable returns.
That raises an important question: why would a company already profiting from the AI boom buy stakes in the businesses driving it?
TSMC moves from supplying AI chips to owning AI developers
TSMC manufactures advanced processors designed by Nvidia and other technology companies, benefiting as developers expand their computing capacity.
The latest approvals give it another route into the industry.
TSMC may purchase up to $500 million of Anthropic common shares at the Claude developer’s initial public offering price, alongside up to $500 million of preferred stock in privately held OpenAI.
These are investment limits, not completed purchases.
A separate $500 million vehicle for semiconductor-related investments was also approved, but does not form part of the $1 billion for the AI developers.
The attraction is potential financial upside if AI software companies grow in value. But TSMC would also assume exposure to private-company valuations, rather than relying solely on chip orders.
Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives argued on Tuesday that Anthropic’s IPO would benefit from disciplined pricing amid volatile AI shares, rather than chasing the highest valuation.
Record October sales give the strategy a powerful foundation
TSMC’s latest figures show why management can consider investments beyond its core operations.
October sales rose 14.7% from September, lifting revenue for the first ten months of 2026 to NT$4.49 trillion, up 43.3%.
Third-quarter net profit reached NT$763.06 billion, while the company expects full-year US dollar revenue growth of approximately 44%.
Wedbush analyst Matt Bryson said that October’s increase exceeded normal seasonal patterns, putting TSMC in a strong position to meet or surpass demanding fourth-quarter expectations.
The board also authorised roughly $40.93 billion in capital appropriations for advanced production, packaging and facilities.
That is spending authority, not money already deployed.
Wall Street faces a new question about AI investment risks
TSMC is joining a network of chipmakers, cloud providers and software developers investing in one another as the AI industry expands.
Such ties may strengthen relationships and finance computing capacity. They also make it harder to judge how much future growth depends on raising fresh capital.
Kevin Net of Financière de l’Échiquier argued in an earlier Bloomberg interview that strong earnings alone were insufficient to justify enthusiasm for TSMC without convincing margins, investment plans and durable AI demand.
AI disclosure: AI tools assisted with research and drafting of this piece. An Invezz editor reviewed the facts, sources and wording before publication. Any opinions or analysis are Invezz’s, not those of an automated system.
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