Bernstein Raises TSMC Price Target, Says Intel and Samsung Haven't Closed Gap

(CNA, New York, 18th, Comprehensive Foreign Report) According to US financial media outlets like CNBC, research firm Bernstein released a report today raising the price target for TSMC's ADR. Analysts point out that Intel and Samsung are still unable to threaten TSMC's leading position. Over the past two months, tech investors have focused on a surge in memory chip demand, which caused the stock prices of companies like Intel and AMD to soar, a rally that is just now beginning to cool down. But according to Bernstein, investors have overlooked the foundry giant TSMC. Although TSMC has underperformed the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, it is poised to benefit from increased artificial intelligence (AI) capital expenditures by cloud service providers. Bernstein analysts Mark Li and Edward Hou noted in today's report: "As investors chase new themes behind the recent rally, TSMC is currently trading at about a 20% discount to the PHLX Semiconductor Index. However, we believe TSMC is the most reliable compounder in the AI space." They stated that Apple's recent agreement with Intel, coupled with competition from Samsung, does not pose a fundamental threat to TSMC's leading position, and there are few signs that Intel or Samsung are closing the technology gap with TSMC. The two pointed out: "Samsung's foundry is improving significantly, but its technology is still at the 4nm or '2nm' (which is actually equivalent to TSMC's 3nm) stage, while TSMC has begun mass production of a true 2nm." Separately, according to Investing.com, Bernstein today raised TSMC's ADR price target from $351 to $430 and maintained its "Outperform" rating.