TSMC’s Premium Over SMIC Shows Challenges for China’s Chip Fund
- Share-price gap between TSMC and SMIC near widest since 2005
- Less advanced tech, costs are among SMIC’s challenges
The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. headquarters in Hsinchu, Taiwan.
Photographer: Lam Yik Fei/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The share-price gap between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and China’s biggest chipmaker is near its widest in almost two decades, highlighting the difficulty Beijing faces in building up its domestic chip industry.
Bolstered in part by state-of-the-art chipmaking capabilities, TSMC has soared 48% this year in Taipei while Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. lost 7.5%, leaving the gap between the two stocks’ annual performance poised to be the biggest since 2005. The chasm comes even as China’s largest semiconductor investment fund, known as Big Fund III, aims to develop the local sector amid US efforts to limit growth.