(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. shares climbed by the most since April, as the world’s largest contract chipmaker rides a continued wave of optimism over artificial intelligence demand into the new year.
Shares of the key supplier to Nvidia Corp. and Apple Inc. jumped as much as 6.9% to touch a new record high in Taipei. That came after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its TSMC price target 35% to NT$2,330, citing expectations of another year of solid growth.
TSMC helped lead a broad charge in Asian tech stocks Monday as investors plow more cash into the AI theme despite concerns of overheating. The sector was once again the biggest boost to regional equities as fear of missing out on further gains overcame concerns of short-term volatility in the wake of US strikes against Venezuela.
“We view AI as a multi-year growth engine for TSMC,” Goldman analysts including Bruce Lu wrote in a report. Lu notes the company’s profit margins are improving, even as he projects it will spend $150 billion over the next three years to increase capacity.
Among other chip stocks, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. extended gains to a fifth-straight session. The memory maker is expected to report preliminary results later this week that will provide further clues on the whether earnings justify the sector’s big gains.
TSMC shares surged 44% in 2025, pushing its market value above $1 trillion for the first time. That reflects increased investor confidence in its central position amid the AI boom, with many of the world’s chip companies relying on its foundry services.
“For leading-edge semiconductor, capacity from TSMC is the king,” Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analysts including Mark Li wrote in a note dated Friday. This year “is still all about AI,” though the analysts recommend investors “focus on quality” given worries of a bubble.
--With assistance from Cindy Wang.
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