Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) shares climbed 5% on Wednesday, April 22, 2026, after the company unveiled its next-generation chip manufacturing processes at its annual technology symposium in Santa Clara. The stock reached a new all-time high and continued its upward momentum into Friday, April 24, 2026, driven by a combination of strong earnings and a favorable regulatory update from Taiwan's market regulator.
The two key announcements from the symposium were the A13 and N2U manufacturing nodes. The A13 process is a refinement of TSMC's existing A14 technology, aimed at AI chip production with volume expected in 2029. The N2U is a more affordable option targeting phones, laptops, and AI applications from 2028. Both processes are designed to produce smaller, faster chips, though performance gains at the individual chip level are described as modest.
A significant takeaway from the event was TSMC's plan to bypass ASML's new 'high NA' extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines, which cost approximately $400 million each. Instead, TSMC has found ways to push its existing EUV technology further, according to Kevin Zhang, TSMC's deputy co-chief operations officer. This move reduces near-term demand for ASML's pricier machines, causing ASML stock to dip 1%.
On the packaging front, TSMC announced that by 2028, it will be able to combine 10 large computing chips with 20 high-bandwidth memory stacks in a single package, up from two chips and eight stacks currently used in AI processors like Nvidia's Vera Rubin. This multi-chip stacking approach is seen as a way to continue performance improvements even as transistor shrinking slows down.
The stock's rally was further fueled by a strong earnings report. On April 17, 2026, TSMC posted a 58% jump in first-quarter net income to 572.48 billion new Taiwan dollars, beating estimates and marking the fourth straight quarter of record profit. The AI boom continued to drive high demand for TSMC's advanced chips, with major customers including Apple, Nvidia, AMD, and Google.
On Friday, April 24, 2026, TSMC shares hit another record high after Taiwan's regulator announced plans to relax limits on how much local funds can invest in a single stock. Under the proposed rule change, domestic equity funds and actively managed ETFs will be allowed to allocate up to 25% of assets into any listed company with a weighting above 10% on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, up from the previous cap of 10%. Given TSMC's dominance in the Taiwanese market, the move is expected to drive additional buying.
Additionally, TSMC expanded its partnership with Siemens to integrate AI-powered automation into semiconductor design. Siemens will integrate its Fuse EDA AI System into TSMC's design workflows, covering advanced chip designs including 3D IC architectures using TSMC's 3DFabric technology. The collaboration also extends to TSMC's 3nm, 2nm, A16, and A14 process technologies, as well as silicon photonics and TSMC's Compact Universal Photonic Engine (COUPE).
