Is Taiwan officially surpassing the UK and the US? Taiwan's stock market capitalization hits 4.14 trillion, surpassing the UK and rising to the seventh largest market in the world.

Benefiting from AI demand and the return of foreign capital, Taiwan’s stock market value has reached $4.14 trillion, surpassing the UK and becoming the world’s seventh-largest. TSMC expects revenue growth of more than 30% this year and plans to expand its wafer fabs to meet strong capacity demand.

Taiwan’s stock market value surpasses the UK, with expectations for higher AI exports

Because Taiwan plays a key role in the AI market, the Taiwan stock market has achieved a historic record of outstanding performance. In a report by Bloomberg, as of 4:15 US time on April 15, Taiwan’s market capitalization has climbed to $4.14 trillion, surpassing the UK stock market’s $4.09 trillion and rising to become the world’s seventh-largest market.

After the war between the U.S. and Iran, Taiwan’s stock market quickly regained the declines caused by the war, and also became one of the first major markets to set new all-time highs. TSMC, which accounts for more than 40% of Taiwan’s market value, saw its stock price hit new highs as well.

According to the International Monetary Fund’s 2026 forecast, Taiwan’s economic scale of $977 billion still lags behind the UK’s $4.3 trillion, but exports of related products are significantly boosting expectations for Taiwan’s economic growth.

At the same time, the structure of the UK stock market has been changing. Goldman Sachs strategist Sharon Bell said that currently, domestic UK investors have insufficient participation and tend to favor low-risk assets, leading to as much as 68% of UK stocks being held by overseas investors, compared with only 17% in 1994.

Foreign capital returns strongly, TSMC’s position remains solid

Yoon Ng, head of the Asia-Pacific region at the fintech services provider, said, Taiwan continues to be seen as a representative of AI hardware, and as long as the momentum for capital expenditure remains, capital flows will continue to provide support.

The Taiwan Weighted Index has risen 16% this month. Over the past year, it has also gained more than 90% in total, setting the longest run of eight consecutive monthly increases since 2025.

Image source: Google Taiwan Weighted Index has risen 16% this month, with a cumulative increase of over 90% in the past year

In addition, foreign investors net bought $8.9 billion worth of Taiwan stocks in April. After experiencing a record outflow of $28.7 billion in March, the Taiwan market is moving toward the largest single-month inflow of funds.

TSMC expects 30% annual revenue growth and will not underestimate Elon Musk’s wafer fab

Taiwan’s stock market repeatedly hitting new highs is closely tied to TSMC’s operations. According to Yahoo Finance’s compilation, at TSMC’s earnings briefing, Chairman Wei Zhejia emphasized that AI demand is strong and expects full-year 2026 revenue growth, in U.S. dollar terms, to exceed 30%.

In Q1 2026, gross margin reached 66.2%, and the outlook for Q2 is only slightly higher at 66.5%, but the company will face dilution effects from factors such as 2nm mass production, overseas expansion, and the Middle East situation.

TSMC expects the tight supply situation to continue into 2027, so it plans to build three new wafer fabs. Capital expenditures in 2026 fall at the upper end of the $52 billion to $56 billion range, mainly used for 3nm capacity expansion.

In response to Elon Musk’s intention to build his own wafer fab, TeraFab, Wei Zhejia said they will not underestimate competitors, but there are no shortcuts in contract manufacturing; capacity ramp-up takes 1 to 2 years. Regarding the Middle East war, TSMC has already established a diversified gas supply system and ensured sufficient liquefied natural gas, so it assesses that near-term operations are not at risk.