TSMC’s record quarter fails to stop semiconductor fund from sliding
Published on 07/17/2026 at 05:44 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
A blockbuster set of numbers from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing has not been enough to steady the VanEck Semiconductor UCITS ETF, which continues to trade well below its recent peak even as the chipmaker and other industry heavyweights post eye-catching growth. The fund closed on Thursday at 93.41 Euro, while the latest quote in the second article put it at 94.49 Euro, down 2.45 percent on the day.
TSMC delivered a second-quarter 2026 performance that would usually be enough to lift the whole sector. Revenue hit a record 40.2 billion US-Dollar, up 36 percent year on year, and net profit climbed to 706.56 billion Taiwan-Dollar, or roughly 19.1 billion Euro, a rise of 77.4 percent. That was the company’s fifth straight record quarter and comfortably ahead of analyst expectations of around 632.64 billion Taiwan-Dollar.
The Taiwanese chipmaker also sharpened its outlook. Chief executive C.C. Wei now sees 2026 revenue growth of more than 40 percent in US-Dollar terms, up from a previous target of more than 30 percent. Capital spending is rising as well: TSMC lifted its investment plan from 52 to 56 billion US-Dollar to 60 to 64 billion US-Dollar. Wei also announced an additional 100 billion US-Dollar investment in Arizona, taking the company’s total commitment to the state to 265 billion US-Dollar.
On the operating side, high-performance computing still dominates the revenue mix with 66 percent, while smartphones account for 22 percent. TSMC also said its new 2-nanometer N2 process made a meaningful commercial contribution for the first time, accounting for 3 percent of wafer revenue.
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Even so, the market’s reaction was muted. TSMC shares were weaker in premarket trading, with reports citing declines of up to four percent and, separately, more than 3 percent. The message from investors was clear enough: a record quarter was not enough to clear the bar.
The fund’s portfolio construction explains why TSMC matters so much. The Taiwanese foundry is the ETF’s second-largest holding at 8.75 percent, behind Advanced Micro Devices at 10.33 percent. Broadcom follows at 9.57 percent, with Micron Technology at 9.39 percent, NVIDIA at 8.40 percent and both ASML and Intel at 8.13 percent. That mix leaves the ETF less concentrated than some US rivals, but it also means that moves in foundry names and memory makers can still hit performance hard.
ASML added to the sense that the industry’s fundamentals remain intact. The Dutch equipment maker reported net sales of 9.3 billion Euro and a gross margin of 54 percent, while raising its 2026 revenue forecast from 36 to 40 billion Euro to 43 to 45 billion Euro. Bernstein lifted its target to 2.500 Euro and Barclays to 2.400 Euro, yet the broader sector still failed to catch a bid.
That disconnect has become part of the trade. Capital has been rotating away from semiconductors and toward the so-called Magnificent Seven. According to figures cited by AOL, about 1.5 trillion US-Dollar flowed into the big technology names in July, while chip stocks excluding Nvidia lost roughly 1.7 trillion US-Dollar in market value. In the same month, the median software stock gained around six percent, while the median chip name fell about 20 percent.
The weakness was amplified by a sharp sell-off in South Korea. On 16 July, the KOSPI dropped more than six percent, with Samsung and SK Hynix falling by double digits. The cascade was aggravated by leveraged single-stock ETFs on South Korean chip names, whose daily rebalancing intensified the swings, according to the Financial Services Commission. The regulator then barred advertising for such products and advised against new approvals. JPMorgan described the rout as the result of crowded positioning rather than evidence of a broken AI cycle.
The VanEck fund has not escaped the pressure. It is now roughly 16 percent below its 52-week high of 111.18 Euro, reached at the end of June, while the second article put the gap at 15.01 percent. Over the past seven trading days, the ETF has fallen 7.59 percent. Its annualised volatility is close to 61 percent, underscoring how violent the swings have become even in the face of strong earnings reports.
Still, the longer-run picture remains powerful. The ETF is up by about 70 percent year to date and more than 122 percent over 12 months. Institutional buyers have continued to add exposure as well: Wealthfront Advisers increased its stake in the first quarter of 2026 by 4.9 percent to 98,371 shares worth 37.7 million US-Dollar, Navigation Group built a new position of 67,411 shares worth about 25.84 million US-Dollar, and Avantax Planning Partners opened a 379,000 US-Dollar position. For now, though, the sector’s fundamentals are competing with a heavy dose of profit-taking.
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