TSMC Board Approves Up to $1 Billion for Stakes in Anthropic and OpenAI

The Anthropic investment will be in common shares bought at the per-share price set in Anthropic's initial public offering, according to the board resolutions TSMC filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on November 10. A second resolution authorises up to $500 million to buy preferred stock in OpenAI Group PBC. The filing gives no price, valuation or timetable for the OpenAI purchase, and both figures are ceilings rather than confirmed amounts.

The approvals take TSMC beyond its usual role as a contract manufacturer for chip designers. Its largest customers, including Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom, sell the processors that Anthropic and OpenAI rely on to train and run their models. The new stakes link part of TSMC's balance sheet to the companies whose spending drives that demand. Direct investments in AI model developers are unusual for TSMC, whose past strategic stakes have mostly been in its own supply chain.

Two Different Deals

The Anthropic purchase is tied to the Claude developer's stock market listing. TSMC is one of seven chip and cloud suppliers, along with AMD, Broadcom, Google, Micron, Microsoft and Nvidia, that will buy a combined $26 billion of stock at the IPO price, according to Anthropic's offering documents. The latest draft sets a range of $70 to $78 a share for an offering of up to $64.4 billion, and the private placement would lift the total raised to about $90.4 billion. Anthropic plans to list on Nasdaq under the ticker ANT, with trading set to begin on November 19. TSMC's resolution caps its share of the placement at $500 million.

OpenAI is raising money privately. Reuters reported on November 6 that OpenAI had completed the first stage of a new funding round, raising $11 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation, against an original target of up to $30 billion. TSMC has not said whether its purchase is part of that round.

A Larger Spending Plan

The AI stakes were among several decisions taken at the same meeting. The board approved about $40.93 billion of capital appropriations for long-term capacity. The money covers advanced process technology, advanced packaging, mature and specialty capacity, and fab construction and facility systems, as well as 2027 research and development and routine capital spending. The board also approved up to $500 million to set up an investment company for strategic investments in the semiconductor industry and related businesses. TSMC has not named the vehicle or said whether it is connected to the Anthropic and OpenAI deals.

Directors approved third-quarter results showing consolidated revenue of NT$1,494.24 billion, net income of NT$763.06 billion and diluted earnings per share of NT$29.43. They declared a cash dividend of NT$9.0 a share, payable on April 8, 2027.

Most of TSMC's earlier direct stakes in other companies served its manufacturing chain. According to a tally by the Taiwanese publication Business Next, TSMC bought about 5% of the lithography equipment maker ASML in 2012 and had sold all of it by 2015. It paid up to $432.8 million for 10% of IMS Nanofabrication in 2023, and put about $100 million into Arm's IPO the same year before selling out in April 2026.

The price TSMC pays for its Anthropic shares will be set when the IPO prices ahead of the planned November 19 debut. The terms of the OpenAI preferred stock have not been disclosed.