Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM 0.84%) were one of several artificial intelligence (AI) stocks moving higher today, a broad response to President Trump's announcement of the new Stargate AI infrastructure project yesterday afternoon.
As of 12:27 p.m. ET, TSMC stock was up 2.9%.
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Billions are set to pour into AI chips
Yesterday, President Trump announced a new AI infrastructure project called Stargate, bringing together the leaders of Oracle, OpenAI, and Softbank, the Japanese tech mega-investor run by Masayoshi Son, in a joint venture to invest at least $100 billion in new infrastructure to power AI. The joint venture could invest as much as $500 billion.
A wide range of AI stocks were climbing on the news, including Arm Holdings, Nvidia, and Broadcom, as the deal looks set to kick off a windfall in the AI sector.
TSMC is also likely to be a beneficiary from the move, as it's the global leader in third-party semiconductor manufacturing and dominates the market for advanced chips, the kind being used to run AI data centers.
More money spent to build data centers will almost certainly lead to more revenue for TSMC, as its top customers include major players in AI and tech like Nvidia, Broadcom, Arm, and AMD, so it's understandable that Taiwan Semi is riding the rising tide higher.
NYSE: TSM
Key Data Points
Is Stargate a game changer?
There's a lot of excitement around the news, and it's not surprising to see stocks that are direct winners from the deal, like Arm, surging on the news.
However, there's a difference between announcing a project of this size and completing it, and it could take years to invest the $100 billion or more. Notably, 10 data centers, built by the venture, are already under construction in Texas.
TSMC's success doesn't depend on Stargate, but it would be a boon for the company. Either way, the AI boom still has a lot of legs, and that should carry TSMC higher.
