Silicon Nexus

At the annual shareholder meeting, TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei reaffirmed dividends will keep growing (up 30% in each of the past two years) and ruled out buybacks, with CFO Wendell Huang backing a sustainable, rising-dividend policy over repurchases. Wei said N2 structural margins are better than N3 at the comparable stage, CoWoS capacity will take 2-3 more years to reach very large scale, and Intel remains a top-10 customer the company aims to 'make money from' while protecting trade secrets.

Why it matters: Chairman explicitly guides ongoing dividend growth, no buybacks, N2>N3 structural margin, and a 2-3 year runway to very-large CoWoS capacity — directly material for TSMC holders and HBM/CoWoS supply chain.

At TSMC's annual shareholder meeting, Chairman C.C. Wei expressed 'considerable confidence' in growth visibility through 2030, defending the capex hike to $56B (from $52B) as backed by customer and downstream demand checks. Wei said employee bonuses are on track to grow over 30% again in 2026 (after similar gains in 2024 and 2025), and shareholder returns rose ~33% YoY, while flagging robotics and autonomous driving as enduring future drivers.

Why it matters: TSMC chairman publicly reaffirms 2030 growth visibility and defends the $56B capex hike at the AGM — a direct read-through for the entire foundry/HBM supply chain.

NVIDIA's Vera Rubin platform launches in 2H, pushing rack power from 130kW (GB200 NVL72) to 150kW (Rubin NVL144) and 600kW (Rubin Ultra NVL576), making 800V HVDC and full liquid cooling the new standard. The analyst flags Taiwan pullbacks as buying opportunities in 800V HVDC names (Delta 2308, Lite-On 2301) and thermal plays (Asia Vital 3017, Auras 3324), with liquid cooling penetration seen reaching 76% in 2026.

Why it matters: Sector roadmap/supply-chain commentary tied to Rubin power and cooling specs with broker stock picks, not a discrete stock-moving event.

Intel CFO David Zinsner told the BofA 2026 tech conference that 18A delays stemmed from trying to chase performance and yield simultaneously, but yields are now improving monthly and should hit healthy-margin levels ahead of schedule by end-2027. He said 14A is already ahead of 18A at the equivalent maturity stage thanks to reused GAA and backside power delivery, and Intel will push longer-term customer contracts as AI inference drives data-center CPU demand.

Why it matters: Intel roadmap update on 18A/14A progress and AI inference CPU demand is a sector/supply-chain signal relevant to TSMC competitive positioning, but no direct capex, contract, or named beneficiary among tracked tickers.

TSMC Chair C.C. Wei told shareholders the company sees no sign of a capex plateau yet, guiding 2026 capex toward the high end of $52-56B and reiterating Q2 gross margin of 65.5-67.5% with long-term target raised to 56%+. Wei cited strong 2030 visibility driven by autonomous driving and robotics demand (including discussions with NVIDIA's Jensen Huang), and flagged persistent US/Japan capacity shortfalls keeping Taiwan as the primary production base.

Why it matters: Chair-level confirmation of 2026 capex skewing to the $56B high end plus raised long-term GM target is a clear stock-moving signal for TSMC and its equipment/supply-chain suppliers.

Teco (1504-TW) jumped over 4% on heavy volume of 100K+ lots as AIDC infrastructure expansion and power supply themes drove the stock, with shares hitting NT$89.6 intraday. Chairman Li Ming-hsien said AIDC's share of the power/energy segment will rise from ~10% over the past two years to over 30% this year and soon exceed 50%, with Southeast Asia and North America CSP investments fueling growth from H2 2026 into 2027.

Why it matters: Single-stock momentum story on Teco (1504-TW), which is outside the tracked universe; AIDC/power read-through is sector color rather than a stock-moving event for tracked names.

Japan's MM Research forecasts FY2026 (Apr 2026-Mar 2027) PC shipments will collapse 37.8% YoY to 11.23M units, with commercial PCs down 40.2% and consumer PCs down 30.8%, after a record FY2025 boosted by Windows 10 end-of-support and GIGA School refresh. MM cites soaring DRAM/NAND prices likely pushing average PC prices up over 20% YoY in FY2026, a demand-destruction signal for memory makers riding the current upcycle.

Why it matters: Sector-level demand signal: memory price surge is now destroying end-PC demand in a major market, relevant context for Samsung/Hynix memory cycle calls but not a direct corporate event.

At today's AGM, TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei guided full-year 2026 USD revenue growth above 30%, citing sustained AI demand from consumer, enterprise and sovereign AI, plus the shift from generative to agentic AI driving higher token/compute consumption. Wei said TSMC will not give up any business opportunity and will keep investing in advanced nodes, advanced packaging (CoWoS) and specialty processes, while expanding mature-node capacity at Japan's JASM and Germany's ESMC for automotive/industrial. He flagged component cost inflation and Middle East tensions as macro risks but reiterated confidence in outperforming industry growth.

Why it matters: AGM guidance of 30%+ USD revenue growth and reaffirmed advanced-node/CoWoS capex is a clear stock-moving datapoint for TSMC and its HBM/packaging supply chain.

Broadcom guided Q3 (May-Jul) revenue to ~$29.4B (+84% YoY), beating consensus of $28.5B, but CEO Hock Tan declined to raise the FY26 AI chip revenue target above $100B and announced a strategic shift to 'chips only,' dropping full AI system supply. Q2 AI revenue doubled YoY to $10.8B and Q3 AI revenue is guided to triple to $16B, but shares fell 11.95% after hours to $421.97 on the unchanged long-term AI outlook.

Why it matters: Broadcom's AI chip guidance and 'chips only' pivot directly impact HBM/ASIC supply chain partners including TSMC (advanced packaging), SK Hynix and Samsung (HBM for Broadcom ASICs serving Google/Meta/OpenAI/Anthropic).