Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has reopened a lead over internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. as Asia’s biggest company by market value, helped by a resumed rally in chip stocks.
Shares of TSMC have gained about 6% so far in May, taking its market cap to nearly $450 billion, supported by continued global enthusiasm over artificial intelligence as well as large incentives for local manufacturing being offered by nations including Japan. Tencent has traded sideways in Hong Kong this month, hurt in part by disappointing advertising sales despite an expected boost from China’s reopening.
A resurgence of server-chip demand in the second half and the introduction of new Apple Inc. products should serve as further catalysts for TSMC’s share performance this year, according to Charles Shum, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
