Overview
- Taiwan Semiconductor posted record Q4 results and lifted 2026 capital spending to $52–$56 billion to expand leading‑edge manufacturing and advanced packaging capacity.
- Analysts highlight ongoing supply tightness at advanced nodes and packaging, with TSMC forecasting robust AI demand and planning multi‑region expansion to support growth.
- The U.S. imposed a 25% tariff on select advanced chips, including AMD’s MI325X and Nvidia’s H200, with Wolfe Research judging the mechanism as largely formalizing pre‑agreed payments and having limited incremental impact.
- Nvidia has U.S. approval to ship H200s to China, but Wolfe notes China permissions remain a gating factor, and the firm cites Nvidia’s $500B+ backlog in an RBC Outperform initiation.
- Broker calls diverged: Wells Fargo reiterated AMD Overweight at $345 while Citi stayed Neutral at $260, and Citi upgraded Intel to Neutral at $50 on a potential window from TSMC’s tight packaging capacity; Micron director Mark Liu bought roughly $7.8 million in shares, signaling confidence in AI memory demand.