Warren Buffett buys billions of dollars worth of TSMC stock

Warren Buffett, the sixth richest man on the planet and historically a tech averse stock market gambler, has bought around $5 billion worth of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co shares. According to an SEC filing, Buffet’s investment vehicle Berkshire Hathaway said it bought around 60.1 million of the chip contract maker’s …

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

What do you need to understand?

It's close to a monopoly on the thing that makes the modern world work. If there is a slowdown just going to put the brakes on it's competition.

Intel,GF, etc are all cutting staff and cancelling projects. In a few years when demand has gone back up and their next gen of fabs are coming online TSMC will be even further ahead

[rcxb]

Re: What do you need to understand?

They don't have a monopoly yet. Samsung is competitive with TSMC, and Intel is trying to bring in some of that contract work once they get their fabs back on track.

There's lots of fabs planned right now thanks to US gov investment. TSMC could well find itself on the wrong end of the "Pork Cycle" in a few years.

[blackcat]

Re: What do you need to understand?

TSMC make a lot of chips for the fabless companies. I'm not sure if much of the CHIPS act pork is going to suppliers like that. It seems to be aimed at the big companies that own their own fabs like Intel and Micron. Also the new fabs will likely be the newer nodes but most of the bread and butter chips are still on the older nodes of which TSMC has a lot of capacity.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: What do you need to understand?

It would be interesting to see ASML's order book. It could well be that TSMC have already bought all the 5000 series machines for the next few years.

I'm certain Intel are going to score more of the CHIPS act money, they have more friends in Washington, but I wouldn't bet on them making more chips than TSMC.

[T. F. M. Reader]

More importantly...

Is the famously "big picture" investor optimistic regarding China's designs for Taiwan? "Optimistic" from where I stand, that is - Xi is watching Putin's failures, talking to POTUS and others in Indonesia, getting less than keen to stir things up against Taiwan - good for TSMC prospects, at least for a while?

[Anonymous Coward]

As soon as the US gets their chip fabs online ...

... I'm guessing a mysterious Stuxnet type worm will infect TSMC's plant in Taiwan making all the chips useless ....

Purely co-incidence of course!