TSMC approves up to $500M each for Anthropic and OpenAI

TSMC’s board on November 10 approved buying up to $500 million of Anthropic common shares at the IPO price, and up to $500 million of OpenAI Group PBC preferred stock, according to the resolutions TSMC published that day. Both amounts are “not to exceed” ceilings, and the two stakes differ in kind: common stock in Anthropic at a price its offering has yet to set, preferred stock in OpenAI.

The Anthropic purchase is also not a straight buy in the IPO. The offering prospectus places it in a concurrent private placement that follows completion of the public offering and remains subject to conditions, with TSMC Partners named as the participant, El7 reported. The prospectus valued TSMC’s purchase using an assumed price per share tied to the offering’s price range, El7 added, so that figure is an estimate, not a confirmed final price.

Together the two lab stakes come to at most $1 billion. The same meeting approved capital appropriations of approximately $40,926.70 million, mainly for advanced technology capacity, advanced packaging and mature or specialty capacity, fab construction and facility systems, plus 2027 R&D, sustaining capital spending and capitalized leased assets. Next to that, the AI bets are only a small line in the day’s spending. The board also signed off on third-quarter results, with consolidated revenue of NT$1,494.24 billion and net income of NT$763.06 billion, and a NT$9.0 per share cash dividend payable on April 8, 2027.

A third $500 million ceiling sits in its own resolution: up to $500 million to establish an investment company for strategic investments in the semiconductor industry and its related ecosystem. TSMC treats it as a separate item from the Anthropic and OpenAI approvals.

What TSMC’s money buys in Anthropic still depends on the offering, which the WSJ reported had shifted to November. Before formal IPO marketing began, Bloomberg’s sources put potential buyers’ valuation talk at $1.2 trillion to $1.3 trillion.