We just covered Here is How Billionaire Philippe Laffont’s Top 10 Picks Crushed The Market. Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE:TSM) ranks #1 (see the Here is How Billionaire Philippe Laffont’s Top 5 Picks Crushed The Market).
YTD Stock Performance: +33%
Philippe Laffont’s Stake: $2.62 Billion
Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE:TSM) shares recently jumped after regulators in Taiwan eased limitations that would reportedly allow fund managers to increase their exposure to the stock. The stock is up 123% over the past year as investors look past Taiwan-related geopolitical risks and focus on the company’s AI moat.
Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE:TSM) is among the top beneficiaries of the rising AI CapEx that is likely to touch $700 billion. Why? TSM has about 62% of the total foundry market and over 90% of the market for advanced nodes (7nm and below). Taiwan Semiconductor’s (NYSE:TSM) customers don’t switch because finding other chip foundries is extremely hard, if not impossible.
Apple relies on Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE:TSM) for chips, including for A-series and M-series. Taiwan Semiconductor makes AI GPUs for Nvidia used in data centers. AMD, Qualcomm, Broadcom, MediaTek and Marvell also rely on it for production.
Read what a Broadcom executive recently said about the demand Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE:TSM) is facing here.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) has raised its capital expenditure forecast to $56 billion for 2026 and plans $165 billion in US investments over the next few years. Its moat and high-capacity production make it an attractive buy for the long term despite its gains.
Montaka Global Investments stated the following regarding Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) in its Q1 2026 investor letter:
“We also acquired Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) – more commonly known as TSMC – the world’s effective monopolist in AI semiconductor fabrication. Given Montaka’s deep work in AI over many years, we’ve been following this company for some time. We had previously opted against investing in TSMC because of (Click Here to Read the Letter in Detail).”
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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.
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