Taiwan Semiconductor trades at a discount despite strong growth, driven by Nvidia's booming AI GPU demand, with August sales up 33% YoY. Concerns over China-Taiwan tensions keep TSMC undervalued, yet the stock remains poised for a breakout past the $190 resistance. Apple's flattish demand contrasts Nvidia's explosive growth, positioning Nvidia to become TSMC's top customer, possibly by 2025.
TSMC has high power usage, and Taiwan's tight electricity supply will test its chip production. Taiwan's sluggish electricity growth challenges the semiconductor industry's expansion.
TSMC's leadership in advanced node processors (N2/A16) and advanced packaging technologies (CoWoS) positions it as a near-monopoly in leading-edge process technology. The global semiconductor market is expanding rapidly, creating a substantial addressable market for TSMC as fabless chip designers outsource manufacturing. TSMC's robust AI-related growth, driven by data centers and AI accelerators, supports high revenue growth and premium valuation multiples.
Major Chinese stocks listed in the U.S. showed mixed results in recent trading, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index (HXC) closing down 2.37%. Notable gainers included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM), which rose 2.09%, and Futu Holdings (FUTU, Financial), which saw an impressive increase of 8.81%.
The giant chip foundry is among the companies best positioned to benefit from the AI megatrend.
Following Hurricane Helene's impact on two high-purity quartz mines in North Carolina, global semiconductor manufacturers are keeping a close eye on their quartz supplies, a critical material for the chip industry. Key players such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM, Financial) and Germany's Infineon Technologies have stated that they are monitoring the situation but do not expect significant operational impacts.
Taiwan's TSMC , the world's largest contract chipmaker, said on Tuesday that it has activated its routine typhoon preparation procedures ahead of the arrival of Typhoon Krathon and does not expect a significant impact to its operations.
TSMC (TSM) has been one of the stocks most watched by Zacks.com users lately. So, it is worth exploring what lies ahead for the stock.
Management projects strong revenue growth over the next five years. The stock doesn't hold much of a premium compared to the S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100.
Taiwan Semiconductor is a leading semiconductor manufacturer benefiting from AI spending. The stock is close to a market cap of $1 trillion and not overly expensive.
TSMC's capex is expected to jump in 2025, a trend that could continue thanks to the secular growth of the semiconductor market. A bump in spending by TSMC and other foundries is going to give ASML's growth a nice shot in the arm.
In the high tech universe, there is a a single common road that top flight companies like Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Qualcomm ( NASDAQ: QCOM ) , Broadcom ( NASDAQ: AVGO ) , and many others must travel to get their chips made, no matter where they hail from.