Longriver Partners Fund: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSM) Remains the Lynchpin of the AI Compute Stack

Longriver Investment Partners released its “Longriver Partners Fund” second-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the quarter, the fund returned 11.7% (net), bringing the year-to-date return to 11.4%. This compares to the benchmark, the MSCI AC World USD Net Index, which returned 11.5% for the quarter and 10.0% year-to-date. The Fund has gained 55.6%, compared to 58.0% for the benchmark, since inception. The investment strategy focuses on harnessing the long-term value created by the holding companies. The fund primarily invests in big tech companies known for consistent performance and have built-in opportunities for profit reinvestment. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2025.

In its second quarter 2025 investor letter, Longriver Partners Fund highlighted stocks such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM). Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) manufactures, packages, tests, and sells integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices. The one-month return of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) was 7.62%, and its shares gained 25.66% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 9, 2025, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) stock closed at $231.84 per share, with a market capitalization of $1.202 trillion.

Longriver Partners Fund stated the following regarding Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:

“Underpinning all of this is one constant. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) remains the lynchpin of the AI compute stack. Every major chip, whether merchant or custom, still runs through its fabs. No other foundry comes close on yield, throughput, or consistency.

If anything, TSMC’s importance has deepened further, thanks to its own initiative and its competitors’ fumbles. In mid-2024, it unveiled its “Foundry 2.0” strategy, redefining its role beyond traditional manufacturing to include advanced packaging, testing, mask-making, and other services vital to progressing Moore’s Law as transistor density gains slow. By integrating all these aspects of chip design, TSMC can deliver better results for its customers and tie them in even closer. One expert summed it up: “TSMC’s system-level co-design is unparalleled.”

Nowhere was that shift more visible than in 2024, when TSMC’s 2.5D CoWoS packaging became a chokepoint. Nvidia’s Blackwell hit thermal limits not because of bad silicon, but because packaging couldn’t keep up. TSMC is doubling CoWoS capacity, but the episode showed how sensitive the stack has become and how much everything now depends on packaging. But packaging is not the only place TSMC is innovating. It is also pushing the limits of the chip itself…” (Click here to read the full text)

Analyst Says Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) One of the Top ‘Horsemen’ of Semiconductor Industry

A close-up of a complex network of integrated circuits used in logic semiconductors.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) is in 9th position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 187 hedge fund portfolios held Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) at the end of the first quarter, which was 186 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of TSM as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than TSM and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

In another article, we covered Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) and shared the list of best fast growth stocks to invest in. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.