Chip frenzy: AI promise propels semiconductor shares across Asia

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The Taipei-listed shares of TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chip maker, jump to their highest levels since the 1994 listing

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Jiaxing Li

Published: 1:55pm, 6 Jun 2024Updated: 5:18pm, 6 Jun 2024

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) market value soared by NT$1 trillion (US$30 billion) on Thursday amid a global chip stock frenzy fuelled by artificial intelligence (AI), which has become a key disruptive force in a wide range of industries.

The world’s biggest contract chip maker’s Taipei-listed shares jumped 4.7 per cent to NT$894, hitting their highest level since its IPO in 1994. The surge lifted its market capitalisation to over NT$23.2 trillion, pushing the local benchmark Taiex Index up 1.9 per cent to a record high as well.

TSMC’s explosive rally follows a surge in semiconductor maker Nvidia’s shares in New York, which took the latter’s market value to over US$3 trillion, surpassing Apple to become the world’s second-most valuable firm. Chip equipment giant ASML also surged overnight in Europe to become the continent’s second-biggest listed company.

“We have never seen concentration in the market like what we’re seeing today” in terms of the AI rally, Cathie Wood, CEO and CIO of Ark Investment Management, said on a virtual panel discussion at the Greenwich Economic Forum in Hong Kong on Thursday.

Cathie Wood, CEO and CIO of Ark Investment Management, spoke on a virtual panel at the Greenwich Economic Forum in Hong Kong on Thursday. Photo: Jiaxing Li

“If Nvidia is going to keep running like this, the only reason it should deserve to do that is if it’s going to benefit a lot other companies,” she said and added “we have a lot of exposure to the up and comers” in the firm’s private fund.