TSMC Clears Up to $1.5 Billion for Stakes in Chip Startups, Its Own Suppliers, Anthropic and OpenAI

TSMC counts Apple, Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom among its customers. It now wants to own a piece of the companies that could join that list, and of the suppliers that keep its fabs running.

The chipmaker’s board on Tuesday approved up to $500 million to set up an investment company “for the purpose of making strategic investments in the semiconductor industry and related ecosystem.” The same meeting cleared up to $500 million for Anthropic common shares at the AI developer’s IPO price and up to $500 million for OpenAI preferred stock. Together that is as much as $1.5 billion, or less than 4% of the roughly $40.93 billion in capital appropriations the board approved that day for new capacity, fab construction and 2027 R&D.

The size is modest for a company that reported third-quarter net income of NT$763.06 billion. The scope is the bigger change. Kevin Zhang, TSMC’s senior vice president and deputy co-chief operating officer, told Nikkei Asia in Tokyo that the company wants to “formalize” its investing and point it at startups that could become the next Nvidia or Broadcom.

“But remember, when Nvidia started working with us, Nvidia was a startup,” Zhang said. “We not only support today’s Nvidia, but we also want to support the future’s Nvidia.”

Suppliers are now fair game

The new arm can also buy into the kinds of companies TSMC has never backed before, including its own suppliers and partners such as intellectual-property providers, Zhang said, as Taiwan News recounted the interview. India Today’s account lists chipmaking equipment, advanced materials and chemicals among the possible targets.

TSMC has done this on a smaller scale. In 2021 it set up an emerging fund of about NT$6.57 billion, roughly $200 million, to give startups access to its advanced manufacturing. Zhang called the returns “exceptional” and did not rule out putting more money into such efforts. The new vehicle is sized at about NT$16.45 billion.

The two AI stakes fit the same plan, in Zhang’s telling. “By investing in Anthropic or OpenAI, we create a reinforcing loop to basically build a richer and healthier and hopefully a bigger ecosystem,” he said.

For Anthropic, the money is part of a $26 billion private placement that Google, Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom, Micron, Microsoft and TSMC agreed to buy at whatever price the offering sets. At the $74 midpoint of the range, TSMC’s share works out to about $500 million. Nvidia has been shoring up the layers around the chip, too. Last month it lined up six manufacturing partners to add substrate, packaging, testing and optics capacity.

The board resolution names no targets for the investment company and gives no timeline for deploying it. TSMC’s first test as an AI shareholder is closer. Anthropic is expected to debut on the Nasdaq on Thursday, with shares marketed at $70 to $78, CNBC reported.