TSMC completes share buyback program ahead of schedule

Taipei, June 28 (CNA) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) completed a share buyback program Friday, far ahead of the Aug. 5 deadline set by the company.

On June 5, TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, announced the share repurchase program to buy back a total of 3,249,000 shares from the open market for between NT$598 (US$18.4) and NT$1,281 in the period June 6-Aug. 5.

The share buyback aimed to offset the dilution from the increase in outstanding shares due to the company's Employee Restricted Stock Awards (RSAs) issuance, according to the chipmaker.

On Friday, TSMC bought the last batch of 295,000 shares from the market for NT$965.11 per share on average or NT$284 million, completing the buyback program.

Since June 14, TSMC has spent a total of NT$3.089 billion to buy back the 3,249,000 shares designated by the program with an average purchasing price of NT$950.81 per share, the chipmaker said.

After the buyback program announced on June 5, market analysts said the price range set by TSMC lent support to its share price, while the stock continued to see strong buying amid optimism over artificial intelligence development, at a time when the share price of U.S.-based AI designer Nvidia Corp. soared.

TSMC is believed to supply Nvidia with chips made on its advanced processes.

Since June 5, shares in TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock on the local market, have soared 13.11 percent on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, serving as a driver to the benchmark weighted index, the Taiex, which rose 7.20 percent in the same period.

On Friday, TSMC rose 0.63 percent to close at NT$966.00, pushing the company's market capitalization up to more than NT$25 trillion after foreign institutional investors registered net purchases of 423,000 shares.