TSMC plans $1 billion in stakes in OpenAI and Anthropic
Its board approved up to $500 million for OpenAI preferred stock and $500 million for Anthropic shares at the expected IPO price, as analysts worry about circular AI financing.
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TSMC, the contract manufacturer behind most of Nvidia's data center AI chips, is set to invest $1 billion in Anthropic and OpenAI, Jeremy Hsu reports for Ars Technica, citing Reuters and The Wall Street Journal.
The deal
According to Reuters, TSMC's board approved two pieces:
- up to $500 million in OpenAI preferred stock, the class set aside for large investors;
- $500 million in Anthropic common shares, bought at Anthropic's expected IPO price.
That gives the chipmaker direct stakes in two of the biggest AI developers, on top of the fortune it already makes manufacturing their hardware.
Confidence boost or circular money?
The Journal said the move could give markets a lift while the AI trade shows signs of strain. Analysts it spoke with also flagged the downside: when investors, suppliers and customers all fund each other, it gets hard to tell how much real demand there is for AI hardware and services.
Why TSMC matters
TSMC's fabs build most of Nvidia's data center AI chips and most of Apple's custom chips for iPhones and Macs, plus Apple's planned AI server. Most of those fabs are in Taiwan, with others in Japan and China, a growing cluster in Arizona and a new plant under construction in Germany.
Scoreboard update: Draw. The chipmaker bets on the labs that buy its chips, and humans decide whether that's demand or a loop.
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