Taiex posts record daily point gain, ends above 40,000 points

Taipei, May 4 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan posted a record daily gain of more than 1,700 points on Monday to close above the 40,000-point mark for the first time, led by large-cap semiconductor stocks amid optimism about the current AI boom, dealers said.

The Taiex, the Taiwan Stock Exchange's benchmark index, ended up 1,778.51 points, or 4.57 percent, at 40,705.14 after moving between 39,228.39 and 40,755.52. Turnover totaled NT$1.01 trillion (US$31.51 billion).

"Buying in the semiconductor industry was sparked by massive spending proposed by major U.S. cloud service providers (CSP) to enhance their AI infrastructure," Concord Securities analyst Kerry Huang said.

The four major U.S. CSPs -- Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta -- proposed an aggregate of about US$725 billion in capital expenditure in 2026, up 77 percent from 2025, during their investor conferences last week.

"TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.) is the largest beneficiary of the trend so investors rushed to pick shares, driving the Taiex sharply higher," Huang said.

TSMC, which accounts for over 40 percent of total market value, rose 6.56 percent to close at a high of NT$2,275.00. TSMC's gains contributed about 1,110 points to the Taiex's rise and sent the electronics index and the semiconductor subindex up by 5.58 percent and 6.75 percent.

Smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc., which is expected to benefit from its efforts in application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) development to meet demand for AI devices, soared 10 percent, the maximum daily increase, to end at NT$2,870.00, and memory chip supplier Nanya Technology Corp. also surged 10 percent to close at NT$237.00 on a supply shortage.

In addition, IC packaging and testing service firm ASE Technology Holding Co. jumped 10 percent to end at NT$528.00 also on strong AI applications.

Outside the semiconductor industry, iPhone assembler and AI server maker Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. gained 3.64 percent to close at NT$227.50, and Quanta Computer Inc., another AI server supplier, added 1.76 percent to end at NT$318.00.

"While market attention focused on the electronics sector, nontech stocks were largely left behind," Huang said.

Formosa Petrochemical Corp. shed 4.26 percent to close at NT$54.00, and Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp. lost 2.87 percent to end at NT$50.80.

Shinkong Synthetic Fibers Corp. dropped 1.19 percent to close at NT$16.60, and rival Far Eastern New Century Corp. fell 1.17 percent to close at NT$16.60.

However, the electric machinery industry bucked the downturn on the need for resilient electricity supply infrastructure during the AI era, with Shihlin Electric & Engineering Corp. up 6.33 percent to close at NT$201.50, and Allis Electric Co. up 10 percent to end at NT$121.00, Huang said.

In the financial sector, which lost 0.17 percent, Cathay Financial Holding Co. fell 1.30 percent to close at NT$76.20, while Fubon Financial Holding Co. ended up 1.11 percent at NT$91.00.

According to the TWSE, foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$66.98 billion of shares on the main board Monday.