TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett on Saturday (May 6) said that he sold off most of his firm's holdings of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) due to geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China, prompting Taiwanese officials to pledge to take steps to boost publicity about TSMC's technological advances and Taiwan's strengths.
Berkshire Hathaway raised eyebrows when it purchased US$4.1 billion (NT$126 billion) of stock in TSMC in November 2022. However, in February, the firm revealed that it had sold off 86% of those shares, leading to speculation that Buffet had concerns about the security of TSMC's Taiwan fabs amid increasing military maneuvers by China.
On April 11, Buffet said geopolitical tensions were "a consideration" in trimming down his firm's holdings. During a shareholder's meeting on Saturday, Buffet praised TSMC as "one of the best-managed companies and important companies in the world."
However, he said that "I don't like its location and reevaluated that...there's no one in the chip industry that's in their league, at least in my view..."
Buffet again praised the Taiwanese chipmaker by saying "Marvelous people and marvelous competitive position, but I'd rather find it in the United States." He then continued his bullish sentiment towards Japan by saying, "I would feel better about capital that we've got deployed in Japan than in Taiwan...I wish it weren't so but I think that's the reality."
When asked by Kuomintang Legislative Caucus Whip William Tseng (曾銘宗) to comment on Buffet's statements during a session of the Legislative Yuan on Monday (May 8), Vice Economic Affairs Minister Lin Chuan-neng (林全能) said that TSMC is a highly reliable partner in the semiconductor industry and continues to create value in emerging technologies, which he said Buffett also affirmed.
Lin said that geopolitical developments cannot be controlled, but the government will continue to maintain TSMC's core competitiveness in Taiwan and create TSMC's value in the global industrial chain. Lin said the government will do its best to let the world know that Taiwan is stable and safe, and that TSMC will create more technological developments in Taiwan.
Shih Keh-her (施克和), deputy head of the National Development Council, said that Buffett's statement represents his opinion as an investor. Shih said that the first part of the statement was to affirm TSMC's key role in the global supply chain, and the second was to emphasize the importance of Taiwan's security.
Shih said that the government will continue to work hard to make Taiwan's key industries, especially the semiconductor industry, occupy a key position in the world. This requires the joint efforts of the government and the opposition, said Shih.
