TSMC board approves US$40.9 billion capital budget and up to US$1 billion in Anthropic and OpenAI

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) on Tuesday (10 November) approved a capital budget of about US$40.93 billion (about NT$1.345 trillion), alongside subscriptions of up to US$500 million each in artificial intelligence companies Anthropic and OpenAI, for a combined maximum of US$1 billion, and up to US$500 million to set up a semiconductor investment company — taking the ceiling for the strategic moves approved in the session to US$1.5 billion. The board also raised the third-quarter cash dividend to NT$9 per share, a quarterly record.

US$40.9 billion budget to fund advanced nodes and packaging

The company said the budget will mainly fund the construction and upgrading of advanced-process capacity, advanced packaging, mature and specialty process capacity, plant construction and facility engineering, as well as the 2027 research and development capital budget, recurring capital budget and capitalised lease assets. The board gave no breakdown by category, country or individual factory. TSMC said strong customer demand, including demand linked to agentic AI, supports expected capital expenditure of US$60 billion to US$64 billion for 2026, and that capital spending in 2026–2028 will rise substantially from the previous three years. Chairman C. C. Wei said on 15 October that another 3-nanometre fab in Tainan would begin commercial production in the first half of 2028.

Two AI stakes structured differently; Anthropic price tied to its IPO

The two AI investments are not structured the same way. The Anthropic portion is a subscription for ordinary shares, with the price to be set by the company's initial public offering, while the OpenAI portion is a subscription for preferred shares, with no mention of participating through an IPO. Anthropic is reported to be seeking to raise up to US$90.4 billion through its IPO and a private placement at a valuation of about US$1.4 trillion, with TSMC among the private-placement participants. The company stressed that the figures are approval ceilings and do not mean the money has been deployed; the actual amounts invested, shareholdings and completion dates are yet to be disclosed.

Third-quarter profit NT$763 billion; dividend hits record NT$9

The board also approved third-quarter results: consolidated revenue of about NT$1.49424 trillion, net profit after tax of NT$763.06 billion and earnings per share of NT$29.43. The third-quarter cash dividend of NT$9 per share is up from NT$7 the previous quarter; the ex-dividend date is 11 March 2027 and payment is scheduled for 8 April 2027.

Sources: TSMC board announcement, 10 November 2026; Asia Daily; EL7.AI, 10 November 2026.