TSMC’s board has given the green light to invest up to $1 billion in artificial intelligence firms OpenAI and Anthropic, the chipmaker announced on Wednesday. The move strengthens TSMC’s relationship with two of the most prominent players in AI, both of which are designing their own processors and compete with TSMC’s existing customers including Apple.
TSMC can buy up to $500 million of equity in both OpenAI and Anthropic. In addition, the board has authorised up to $500 million to establish a separate entity focused on semiconductor and industry investments.
TSMC manufactures Apple’s custom chips, and the investments come as both OpenAI and Anthropic work on their own silicon designs. The financial commitments give TSMC a direct stake in companies that could compete with Apple for advanced manufacturing capacity and in the AI space. Apple has been accelerating its own AI efforts, with hardware chief John Ternus recently pushing software head Craig Federighi to speed up the company’s AI roadmap.