TSMC market cap nears US$1 trillion; 8th highest globally

Taipei, June 19 (CNA) Driven by booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) technology, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) saw its market capitalization jump to US$931.90 billion on Tuesday, making it the world's eighth most valuable company.

Riding high on the AI wave, shares in U.S. AI chip giant Nvidia Corp., TSMC's main customer, surged to US$135.58 on Tuesday, pushing its market valuation to US$3.33 trillion, surpassing Apple and Microsoft to become the world's most valuable company.

TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, the main AI chip supplier to Nvidia, and other chip giants and technology firms like AMD, Intel, Qualcomm, MediaTek and Apple, becomes one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom, with its competitive edge in advanced technologies.

TSMC's gain comes from particularly its advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology, which is mainly used in AI chips.

As such, TSMC saw the price of its American depositary receipts (ADR) regularly hitting new record highs.

On June 12, TSMC's ADR surged to US$172.98, with a market capitalization of US$897.2 billion, making it the world's eighth most valuable company, replacing Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

On Tuesday, TSMC's ADR soared to US$179.69, pushing its market capitalization to US$931.90 billion, just shy of the US$1 trillion threshold.

TSMC's ADRs have risen 72.78 percent in value this year, boosting the company's market value by US$392.5 billion. Its Taipei-listed stock rose to NT$981 (US$26.75) on Wednesday, with a market capitalization of NT$25.44 trillion.