Taiwan's stock market has surpassed India's in total market capitalization, reaching $4.95 trillion as of Monday, May 25, 2026. This milestone is largely attributed to the exceptional performance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest chipmaker. TSMC's shares have surged by 49% this year, fueled by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom and the increasing demand for its advanced semiconductors.
TSMC now constitutes over 42% of Taiwan's benchmark index, highlighting the intense market concentration. The company's dominance in the semiconductor industry has made Taiwan a major beneficiary of the global AI hardware demand. In contrast, India's market value has declined to $4.92 trillion, impacted by surging oil prices due to the Iran war, which weighs heavily on the growth outlook for energy-importing nations like India.
The rise of Taiwan's stock market reflects its heavy concentration in tech hardware, positioning it at the center of the AI investment cycle. According to Yi Ping Liao, a fund manager at Franklin Templeton, markets with limited exposure to tech hardware are increasingly being overshadowed by tech-heavy markets like Taiwan and South Korea. Taiwan's financial regulator has also supported this growth by increasing the limit that domestic funds can invest in a single stock, further benefiting TSMC.
TSMC's robust performance is reflected in its market capitalization, which reached approximately $2.098 trillion as of May 2026, making it the world's 6th most valuable company. The Taiwan Stock Market Index (TWSE) also reflects this surge, rising to 43,457 points on May 25, 2026, a 2.81% increase from the previous session. The index has climbed 9.69% over the past month and an impressive 101.78% compared to the same time last year.
