Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Sponsored ADR (TSM.US) "Steps In Directly" to Buy AI: Spending US$1 Billion to Take Stakes in Anthropic and OpenAI, Entering a Trillion-Valuation IPO High-Stakes Bet

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Sponsored ADR (TSM.US) plans to invest up to US$1 billion combined in leading AI developers Anthropic and OpenAI, underscoring the chipmaker's confidence in long-term AI technology demandeven as market concerns over surging AI spending intensify. The company is seeking to benefit on two fronts: not only supplying AI infrastructure, but also taking a share of the gains by holding stakes in the industry's most influential developers. The board of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Sponsored ADR approved on Tuesday a plan to subscribe to up to US$500 million of Anthropic shares at its IPO issue price, and to subscribe to up to US$500 million of OpenAI preferred stock. The move comes as, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday, the base offering seeks to raise up to US$64.4 billion, with a price range of US$70 to US$78 per share. Of that, the company is issuing 801.4 million shares, while existing shareholders are selling 23.6 million shares. The documents show the offering also includes a private placement raising a combined US$26 billion, with subscribers including, besides Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Sponsored ADR, AMD (AMD.US), Broadcom Inc. (AVGO.US), Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOGL.US), Micron Technology, Inc. (MU.US), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US) and NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US). The Claude developer is also separately raising US$26 billion through an investor-backed private financing, with participants including Alphabet's Alphabet Inc. Class C, NVIDIA Corporation, AMD and Microsoft Corporation. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Sponsored ADR is the world's largest contract chipmaker and a key supplier to leading AI companies such as NVIDIA Corporationwhose expensive graphics processing units (GPUs) underpin many of today's AI models. Last month, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Sponsored ADR posted a record profit for a sixth consecutive quarter and said AI-related chip demand remains "extremely strong," although its outlook for 2027 turned cautious. The company expects full-year 2026 revenue to grow about 44% year on year, and said demand continues to exceed its manufacturing capacity. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Sponsored ADR is also expanding production, including a US$265 billion investment in manufacturing facilities in Arizona, and is evaluating a potential project in Texas.