New York, Feb 23, 2026, 05:47 EST — Premarket
- TSMC ADRs slipped roughly 1% in premarket, giving back part of Friday’s strong gain.
- Taiwan-listed shares slipped back after touching a new intraday high earlier in the session
- Nvidia earnings and a rapid U.S. tariff reset have investors shifting positions.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s ADRs slipped 1.1% to $366.30 ahead of the bell Monday, easing back after jumping 2.8% in the last session. MarketWatch data put premarket volume at roughly 28,000 shares.
Why does it matter? TSMC is the lynchpin for AI chip supply, making chip shares a live measure of big tech’s spending pulse. On top of that, traders are grappling with turbulence from changes in U.S. trade policy, which are sending shockwaves across global markets.
Stocks in Taiwan and South Korea surged to fresh records, with investors still steering capital toward “AI-linked North Asia.” The dollar, meanwhile, lingered near recent lows as tariff worries persisted. “The narrative in Asian emerging markets has shifted from tariff fears to competitiveness,” said Billy Leung, investment strategist at Global X ETFs Australia. Reuters
TSMC shares ended the session in Taiwan at T$1,900, slipping 0.78% for the day after an earlier push to T$1,935, Bloomberg data showed. Investors appeared to pocket gains once the stock touched fresh highs.
Nvidia’s upcoming results and the AI narrative are front and center for U.S. investors this week. “The expectation for outsized results for Nvidia has been a persistent theme,” Marta Norton, chief investment strategist at Empower, said. But with anticipation running high, another strategist flagged that it’s getting tougher for the chipmaker to actually deliver a positive surprise. Reuters
Trade policy remains volatile. U.S. Customs and Border Protection will halt collecting tariffs levied under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act as of 12:01 a.m. EST on Tuesday, following a Supreme Court decision that struck down the duties as illegal. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, is moving ahead with a fresh 15% global tariff, this time invoking a separate legal basis.
TSMC remains at the center of the AI chip rush, but investors have been shifting money back and forth between so-called “AI winners” and other tech names. Back in January, the company projected capital spending for 2026 at $52 billion to $56 billion, and told investors it was looking for revenue to surge nearly 30% this year. Reuters
TSMC posted January revenue of roughly T$401.26 billion, lifting 19.8% from December and 36.8% on the year, according to a company statement.
Investors eyeing Intel and Samsung Electronics, both rivals in the chip manufacturing race, keep a close watch on TSMC’s grip on pricing and its capacity strategies. Chip designers tied to TSMC’s leading-edge foundry lines are just as alert to any move.
The setup works in both directions. If Nvidia offers a guarded outlook or hints that major cloud players are dialing back on data-center expansion, the repercussions could ripple through the sector, TSMC included—even if short-term demand holds up. Trade disruptions pose a separate threat: shifts in tariffs or enforcement have a way of rattling confidence across intricate supply networks.
Nvidia’s quarterly numbers drop Wednesday, Feb. 25, with the conference call set for 5 p.m. ET. Investors will be listening closely, looking for clues on demand across the AI hardware supply chain—including TSMC.
