In the morning of April 3, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 hit Taipei, Taiwan. The severity of the earthquake caused a blackout in several parts of the city and sparked a tsunami warning for the neighbouring countries, such as Japan.
This quake is believed to be the biggest that Taiwan has experienced since 1999, causing buildings to be damaged and train services to be suspended.
Amid the rubble, shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) fell some 1.39% for the day to trade at 779 TWD, while its shares in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) last traded at US$139.97.
Workers of TSMC were also forced to evacuate the factory areas. The chipmaker to the tech giants like Apple and Nvidia, had to move its staff out of certain areas. TSMC is still assessing the situation and has yet to make an announcement on the impact of the earthquake.
TSMC has been known to be a critical global semiconductor stock, as analysts at Bank of America (BOA) view it as “a key enabler of artificial intelligence (AI) with long-lasting leadership”, while JPMorgan analysts labelled the chipmaker as a critical player “for almost all AI processing at the data centre and the edge.”
The group is well-known for producing chips for some of the world’s leading AI processors.
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Ytd, shares in TSMC have gained about 33% and 36% on the Taipei Stock Exchange and NYSE, respectively.
Analysts have been keeping a bullish stance on the stock, as they like the advancements in the group’s high-performance computing (HPC), increased in-sourcing by system companies and a robust pipeline for its N3 technology in 2024 and 2025. The group’s N2 technology is expected to launch in 2026.
