Taiwan's chipmaking giant TSMC is putting $1 billion into OpenAI and Anthropic, taking direct stakes in the very AI developers that already depend on its factories.
The company's board approved up to $500 million for OpenAI preferred stock reserved for large investors and another $500 million to buy Anthropic common shares at the expected IPO price.
The investment lands as the AI trade shows signs of strain, and it fits a widening pattern of circular financing in which suppliers, investors, and customers increasingly fund one another. Analysts warn that this web of overlapping stakes makes it difficult to gauge genuine demand for AI hardware and services.
TSMC can easily afford the wager. Relentless demand for AI chips has powered six consecutive quarters of record profit, including more than $23 billion earned in the July through September 2026 quarter.
Even so, the bet is modest next to its peers. Nvidia has already poured $30 billion into OpenAI and $10 billion into Anthropic, on top of tens of billions committed to a wide range of other AI and robotics companies.