The 92-year-old Warren Buffett and his company Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A 0.40%) (BRK.B 0.40%) have been beating the market for decades, standing strong even through multiple recessions. That's why investors follow Berkshire's stock picks so closely.

This year, the large conglomerate, particularly at the beginning of 2022, deployed tens of billions of dollars into equities. Buffett typically takes a long-term investing approach, which means the Oracle of Omaha is seeing a lot of opportunity. Here are two stocks Buffett bought boatloads of this year.

1. Occidental Petroleum

Berkshire first initiated a position in the large Texas-based oil and gas producer Occidental Petroleum (OXY -0.41%) in the first quarter of this year, purchasing a $7.7 billion stake. And since then, Buffett and Berkshire have kept buying the stock all year. Berkshire now owns more than 194 million shares valued at close to $12.5 billion, or roughly 21% of the company. Berkshire has also received regulatory approval to purchase as much as half of all outstanding shares.

The driving factor behind the purchase of Occidental appears to be Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which then led the U.S. and many European countries to ban Russian oil imports. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has also been curbing the global supply of oil, which has made U.S. domestic oil producers very valuable, although oil prices have been falling and are now around $80 per barrel.

Still, Occidental has vastly outperformed the broader market and its stock is up nearly 107% this year. The company can make money as long as oil prices stay above $40 per barrel.

The oil specialist has taken advantage of its strong performance this year to reduce debt, increase the dividend, and generate free cash flow. CEO Vicki Hollub said on the company's recent earnings call that it will have much more capital in 2023 to repurchase stock, and will largely use free cash flow next year to buy back stock.

2. Taiwan Semiconductor

Most investors assumed Berkshire would buy more shares of Apple in the third quarter, but instead, Berkshire surprised the market and initiated a stake in Apple's key chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM -4.82%), also known as TSMC. While it isn't as big as the Occidental position, it's by no means a small stake. Berkshire purchased over 60 million shares currently valued at more than $4.8 billion.

It's not uncommon for Berkshire to find new stocks through ones it already owns and TSMC seems like a perfect match. It's been reported that Apple is planning to use more TSMC chips in future iPhone and Macbook models next year, and the tech titan was said to account for a quarter of TSMC's revenue in 2021.

But TSMC also makes chips for a number of other promising industries other than phones and computers. such as the Internet of Things, automobiles, and digital consumer electronics. In the third quarter, the company generated a profit of more than $9 billion, which equates to a net profit margin of nearly 46% and a return on equity of nearly 43%.

TSMC is also increasing its investment in U.S. chip factories, which will help to diversify its operations, and should benefit as China continues to reopen its economy and ease its more restrictive policies aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19.