Taiwan stocks rise on TSMC record high, tech-led gains

Taiwan’s stock market closed higher on December 29, with the Taiex index up 0.89% to 28,810.9.

Gains followed a record high for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), which rose 1.3% to NT$1,530 (US$48.7).

The stock climbed amid reports it will raise prices for advanced chips in January due to tight global supply.

TSMC is set to provide 2026 guidance at an investor conference on January 15.

Other tech stocks also rose, including MediaTek, up 2.5%, and Hon Hai Precision Industry, up 2.4%.

Innolux surged 10% after reports it secured advanced FOPLP chip orders for the SpaceX supply chain.

Buying extended to old-economy and financial stocks, while foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$9.3 billion (US$296.2 million) in shares.

🔗 Source: Focus Taiwan

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

TSMC will raise 3–5 nanometer N3/N5 prices 5–10% from 2026, with smartphone at 5%, CPUs at 7%, and AI or high‑performance computing (HPC) at 10% 1. Chip‑on‑Wafer‑on‑Substrate (CoWoS) will rise 10–20% in 2025 amid tight supply 2.
Arizona runs about 15% pricier than Taiwan with over $65 billion invested 3, so the plan supports margins above 53% as non‑Taiwan plants may trim results by 2–3% from 2025 3. NVIDIA booked over half of 2026–27 CoWoS output 4, or about 510,000 wafers, while Broadcom took roughly 150,000 and AMD about 105,000 5. Less than 15% remains for smaller chip designers 5.

Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) providers ASE and Amkor are adding CoWoS lines through TSMC tie‑ups 2. ASE’s K28 site targets 2026, while Amkor’s Arizona tie‑up may serve Apple and U.S. AI clients 2. Advanced packaging, techniques that tightly integrate multiple chips in one package, will exceed 51% of total semiconductor packaging in 2025 and could reach $78.6 billion by 2028 with a 10.6% Compound Annual Growth Rate 5.
Intel’s Embedded Multi‑die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB) draws interest from Marvell, MediaTek, and Google for cost‑effective AI application‑specific integrated circuits 5. Samsung’s 2.5D I‑Cube (interposer‑based multi‑chip integration) and 3D X‑Cube (vertical chip stacking) packaging, plus Innolux’s fan‑out panel‑level packaging orders in the SpaceX supply chain expand options beyond TSMC 5.