Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) dominates AI chip manufacturing with 90% of advanced-node capacity, backing billionaire investor Laffont's largest holding.

What happened: TSMC controls about 62% of the total foundry market and more than 90% of advanced nodes at 7nm and below, the smallest process sizes needed for AI chips. In Q1, revenue rose 40.6% year over year to $35.9 billion（約5.7兆円）, and the company expects full-year 2026 revenue growth of more than 30%. TSMC is raising capital spending to between $52 billion（約8.3兆円） and $56 billion（約9兆円） in 2026, up about 32% year over year.

Why it matters: No competitor can match TSMC's scale or technical capability at these cutting-edge process sizes, so major customers including Apple, Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, Broadcom, MediaTek, and Marvell cannot easily switch suppliers. This pricing power shows in the financials: gross margin reached 66.2% in Q1 and operating margin came in at 58.1%. TSMC sits at the center of the AI accelerator buildout, with global AI accelerator spending projected to grow from $116 billion（約19兆円） in 2024 to $604 billion（約97兆円） by 2033.

What to watch: Eagle Point Capital notes that while TSMC is beloved by investors for its dominance, technology in its field is changing rapidly and it remains unclear if it will be able to change with it. History includes companies like Intel that looked dominant but could not adapt as their environment changed.