Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that it
purchased a $4.1 billion stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company,
one of the world’s largest chipmakers. In a regulatory filing with the United
States Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, Berkshire Hathaway said it
acquired around 60 million American depositary shares of TSMC in the three
months that ended September. Shares of TSMC surged over 8% in Taiwan on
Tuesday.

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“TSMC welcomes all investors with the propensity to buy and
hold TSMC’s stock,” a spokesperson for the chipmaker said.

TSMC accounts for an estimated 90% of the world’s
super-advanced computer chips, supplying tech giants including Apple and
Qualcomm.

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Berkshire’s purchase of a stake in the chip giant comes as
tensions between China and the self-governed democratic island are escalating.
Taiwan has been witnessing growing military aggression from Beijing in recent
months and that has pointed to the crucial role it plays in the global
chip-making industry.

Super-advanced semiconductor chips produced by TSMC are
difficult to make because of the high cost of development and the level of
knowledge required, meaning much of the production is concentrated in just a
handful of suppliers.

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Tensions between Washington and Beijing have also been
increasing lately over chips, with President Joe Biden imposing a sweeping set
of restrictions on the sale of advanced chips and chip-making equipment to Chinese
firms.

The Warren Buffet-led firm also disclosed new stakes of
$297 million in building materials company Louisiana-Pacific Corp and $13
million in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. It also exited its position in Store
Capital Corp, a real estate company that agreed in September to be taken
private.

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Berkshire also boosted its bets on Chevron, Occidental
Petroleum, Paramount Global, Celanese, and RH. On the other hand, it reduced
its wagers on Activision Blizzard, Kroger, General Motors, US Bancorp, and BNY
Mellon. It also added Jefferies and Louisiana-Pacific to its holdings. The
total value of Berkshire’s US stock portfolio, which excludes overseas holdings
such as BYD, declined marginally to $296 billion.