Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s latest earnings report sent a strong signal across global markets: artificial intelligence demand is not slowing down. Brokers from Unirock Gestion have analyzed the implications of the report and conclude that while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) was the immediate winner, a much broader ecosystem of companies stands to benefit from its aggressive expansion plans.
TSMC recently announced it expects to spend between $52 billion and $56 billion in capital expenditures in 2026, up sharply from $41 billion in 2025. This substantial increase reflects management’s confidence that demand for advanced AI chips will remain strong well into the future, and that confidence creates ripple effects across multiple industries.
AI Chipmakers: Demand Continues to Accelerate
One of the clearest beneficiary groups is AI chip designers. TSMC’s expanded capacity directly supports customers racing to meet demand for AI training and inference.
NVIDIA remains a standout. Its GPUs are the dominant processors used to train large language models, and its CUDA software ecosystem continues to provide a wide moat. According to brokers, Nvidia’s reliance on TSMC’s advanced nodes makes increased foundry capacity critical to sustaining its growth trajectory.
Broadcom is another notable winner. The company specializes in helping hyperscalers design custom AI accelerators, and analysts expect its AI-related revenue to scale rapidly over the next two years. Meanwhile, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is positioned to benefit from expanding demand for AI inference, where pricing and competition are broader and less concentrated than AI training.
Brokers note that TSMC’s willingness to invest aggressively reduces supply constraints, allowing these chip designers to meet customer demand without prolonged bottlenecks.
ASML (Advanced Semiconductor Materials Lithography): A Strategic Gatekeeper of Advanced Manufacturing
Few companies benefit more directly from rising semiconductor capex than ASML. As the sole producer of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines, ASML occupies one of the most critical choke points in the global semiconductor supply chain.
Each new advanced fabrication plant requires significant EUV capacity, and TSMC’s capex increases, all but guaranteeing continued demand for ASML’s systems. Analysts also highlight ASML’s upcoming High-NA EUV platform, which carries nearly double the price of existing EUV machines and enables even smaller, more powerful chip architectures.
As TSMC pushes the limits of semiconductor design, ASML’s pricing power and long-term order visibility remain exceptionally strong.
Memory Makers: Benefiting from Tight Supply
AI chips do not operate in isolation. High-performance AI workloads require high-bandwidth memory (HBM), a specialized form of DRAM that enables faster data transfer between processors and memory.
The DRAM market is already tight, and TSMC’s expansion into advanced AI nodes is likely to keep supply constrained. This dynamic supports higher pricing and stronger margins for memory producers such as Micron Technology, SK Hynix, and Samsung Electronics.
Brokers emphasize that memory demand scales directly with AI compute intensity. As models grow larger and inference becomes more widespread, memory suppliers may continue to experience favorable pricing conditions.
Cloud Computing Giants: Infrastructure Spending Justified
Another major beneficiary group is cloud computing. The largest providers, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Oracle, are investing heavily in data center expansion to support AI-driven services.
During TSMC’s earnings call, CEO C.C. Wei stated that discussions with cloud service providers confirmed AI infrastructure spending is generating strong business returns. According to Unirockgestion’s analysis, this confirmation was a key factor behind TSMC’s willingness to dramatically increase capex.
Cloud computing has increasingly become a core earnings driver, not just a growth experiment, for these companies, and sustained AI demand strengthens that position.
Neocloud Providers: Higher Risk, Higher Leverage
TSMC’s outlook also supports smaller, specialized “neocloud” providers such as CoreWeave and Nebius Group. These firms focus on renting AI-optimized computing power to enterprises and developers.
Demand for their services has surged, but brokers caution that these companies often operate with more leverage and less free cash flow than the cloud giants. While they offer higher growth potential, they also carry elevated financial risk if AI demand softens or funding conditions tighten.
Final Takeaway
From Unirockgestion’s perspective, TSMC’s capex surge represents a vote of confidence in the long-term economics of AI infrastructure. The biggest winners extend well beyond the foundry itself, spanning chip designers, equipment makers, memory producers, and cloud service providers.
According to brokers, TSMC’s aggressive investment plans reinforce the idea that AI-related spending is moving from experimentation to long-term infrastructure buildout. This shift benefits companies across the entire semiconductor and cloud ecosystem, while also providing investors with clearer visibility into where sustained capital flows and durable demand are likely to emerge.
While valuation and execution risks remain across the sector, the breadth of beneficiaries underscores a critical point: AI is no longer a narrow technology trend it is a full-stack investment cycle reshaping global capital spending.
