Weekly check-in — week ending Sep 25, 2026

2026-09-26

TSM

Price: closed at $450.61 on Sep 25 (−0.12%), after +1.03% on Sep 24. Up 6.9% over the past month, versus +0.5% for the S&P 500. 5.7% below its 52-week high of $479.00.
Pricing: reported plan to raise wafer prices 3–6% starting in January.
Capacity: committed $29.4B to capacity expansion in August.
Tariffs: exempt from the US 100% chip tariff because of its US plants; announced US investment is $265B. Taiwan's tariff cut from 20% to 15% depends on $250B of Taiwanese chip investment in the US. Deal terms described as "still murky"; Taiwan still pushing for preferential treatment as new chip tariffs are weighed.
Next earnings: consensus $4.45 EPS.

Price: about $502–506 on Sep 26. Roughly +1% in 2026, versus about +12% for the S&P 500; slightly behind the index annualized over the past decade.
Leadership: on Sep 18, Warren Buffett (96) stepped down as chairman, now chairman emeritus and still a director. Howard Buffett is non-executive chairman. Greg Abel has been CEO since about January.
Capital allocation: new $212.4M stake in Lennar (about $50M/year in expected dividends). Large cash position; Abel's early moves into stocks and energy.

Price: $250.25 on Sep 25 (previous close $249.38). 52-week range $196.00–$287.20. Dipped below $245 around Sep 16 on the Generac news.
Capex: 2026 budget raised to about $220B. Analyst estimates: $320B (2027), $370B (2028), with free cash flow about −$50B in each year. Trailing free cash flow already −$7.6B; Q2 capex $54.2B (+68% YoY).
AWS: +37% growth (fastest in 18 quarters), 39% operating margin, $496B backlog, 2027 capacity largely reserved. Azure and Google Cloud grew faster in 2026.
Regulation: FTC alleges Amazon raised minimum ad prices, estimated to cost advertisers $20B+; ad-business complaint expected. EU Digital Markets Act "gatekeeper" designation adds rules for AWS.
Other: $2.4B generator deal with Generac; $3B into India quick commerce; $100M Indiana manufacturing facility (300 jobs); new seller tool covering eBay, Walmart and Shopify.

S&P 500 closed at 7,743.41 (+0.51% Friday): first winning week in three. Dow 51,828.62 (+0.93%), Nasdaq 27,068.72 (+0.5%).
Volatile week with a sharp rise in Treasury yields; eased by Brent crude falling below $98. Yields stayed elevated.

note: compiled from web search results by Claude Code; some figures come from secondary summaries.