TSMC approved US$40.9bn for capacity and up to US$500m each for Anthropic and OpenAI
TSMC’s board resolutions of 10 November: US$40.93bn of capital appropriations, 39% more than in August, and up to US$500m each for Anthropic shares, OpenAI stock and a new investment arm.
TSMC’s board approved about US$40.93bn of capital appropriations on 10 November, 39% more than the US$29.44bn it approved in August and 2.7 times the US$14.98bn of November 2025.123 The same meeting approved up to US$500m for Anthropic shares at their IPO price, up to US$500m for OpenAI preferred stock, and up to US$500m to set up a company that will make strategic investments in the semiconductor industry and the businesses around it.1
01What the board approved, and what it has not spent
An appropriation is the board’s approval of money for capacity, not a year’s spending. TSMC lists four uses for this one: advanced-technology capacity; advanced packaging, mature and specialty capacity; fab construction and facility systems; and 2027 R&D capital investment, sustaining capital expenditure and capitalised leased assets.1 That last line is why November is best compared with November: the resolution of 11 November 2025 carried the same items for 2026.3
TSMC’s November approval is 39% above August’s and 2.7 times last November’s
Capital appropriations approved at each board meeting, US$ billion, November 2025 to November 2026
Source: TSMC board resolutions of 11 Nov 2025, 10 Feb, 12 May, 11 Aug and 10 Nov 2026 · as of 11 November 2026 · November approvals include the next year's R&D capital and sustaining capex
It is not the largest of the five. February’s approval was US$44.96bn.4 The four approvals of 2026 add up to about US$146.6bn, against a 2026 capital budget of US$60bn to US$64bn that the company reiterated on 15 October; it spent US$13.8bn in July–September. Asked about 2027, the chief financial officer, Wendell Huang, said it was “a bit too early to share the CapEx number beyond this year”, and that spending from 2026 to 2028 is expected to be “significantly higher than the past three years”.5 TSMC’s October sales were a record NT$586.9bn, as our monthly revenue Trend showed.
02Up to US$1.5bn for two AI companies and a new investment arm
Anthropic’s amended prospectus, filed the same day, lists TSMC Partners, Ltd. among seven companies buying US$26.0bn of non-voting Class N common stock in a private placement at the IPO price; at the US$74 midpoint of the range, TSMC’s part is 6,756,756 shares for about US$500m. The placement closes only if the IPO completes and certain conditions are met.6 TSMC’s resolution names no share class, buying entity or placement, and Anthropic’s filing does not mention TSMC’s board vote. The amount, the price basis and the buyer group are the same, so this is the US$0.5bn TSMC line in our reading of Anthropic’s filing, now approved by TSMC’s board, not a second purchase.
For OpenAI Group PBC, TSMC gives only the instrument, preferred stock, and the ceiling of US$500m: no price, valuation, round or closing date. The new investment company has no name, location or first target yet.1 The tie runs the other way too. Anthropic’s filing says most of the world’s advanced chip capacity sits in Taiwan, “primarily at” TSMC, and that because TSMC has at times been unable to meet demand, Anthropic has “not always been able to obtain sufficient quantities of chips on a timely basis”.6
Sources
- TSMC: TSMC Board of Directors Meeting Resolutions — 10 November 2026
- TSMC: TSMC Board of Directors Meeting Resolutions — 11 August 2026
- TSMC: TSMC Board of Directors Meeting Resolutions — 11 November 2025
- TSMC: TSMC Board of Directors Meeting Resolutions (February; the May resolution, US$31,284.30m, is at https://pr.tsmc.com/english/news/3311) — 10 February 2026
- TSMC: Q3 2026 earnings conference call transcript — 15 October 2026
- Anthropic, PBC: Form S-1/A, Amendment No. 2 (Concurrent Private Placement; Risk Factors) — filed 10 November 2026
Disclosure. TechBag is a software reseller: it earns a margin when a reader buys through it, including from vendors named here. The analysis is TechBag’s own; no vendor paid for or saw this piece before publication. Facts are labelled reported, TechBag count or our view.
Keep reading
