TSM
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd.
stock NYSE ADR

Hey everyone!
After a couple of years reading and watching the market, I finally started investing. I’m a 27M non-U.S. citizen on a student visa, currently in the first year of my PhD. I make $3,000/month, and about 35% of that goes to rent and utilities.
Last month I started an automatic investment plan of $400/month, allocated like this: $200 – VTI, $100 – VXUS, $50 – TSM (Taiwan Semiconductor), $25 – COST (Costco), $25 – BRK.B (Berkshire Hathaway)
My strategy is long-term buy-and-hold. I want most of my exposure in the U.S. market (VTI), some international exposure (VXUS), and, since I am still young, take an extra risk with businesses I like their model and potential (TSM, COST, BRK.B).
I don’t have a set retirement age or target. I just want to build over time and maintain a balance between financial security and flexibility (maybe with a little higher risk?).
**My current financial situation:**
* Emergency fund: 3x monthly income, but in a non-U.S. bank
* 403(b) from my previous job (around $3,300); I’m not currently contributing, but could opt in again
* $4,000 in a checking account
**My questions:**
1. Should I transfer more money to investments now to gain more traction?
2. Is opening a Roth IRA worth it at the moment?
3. Should I keep contributing 4% to my 403(b) during my PhD?
4. Would you make any changes to my portfolio?
5. Would it make sense to transfer part of my emergency fund to a U.S. bank? Or maybe keep some in a high-yield savings account here?
6. Any other things I should consider as a non-citizen trying to build long-term wealth in the U.S.?
Would appreciate any thoughts :) Thanks in advance!

Yeah, I don't know... I started to manage my Dad's a few years ago and put about 15% of his into NVDA, TSM and AVGO in Sept of '23 I think. It was around 400 at the time. He's been pretty itchy at times, but...I think he's happy he did it!
That's the last time I bought shares myself. I bought 1500 then, a little more for him.

I've also put some into an account for my nephew. Mostly in a 529, but I put some in a regular taxable account so I can have more flexibility.

We did hit \~150 and drop back to 88 a share on Trump's asinine tariffs(that lasted less than 3 days). You never know what he's going to do, so... I don't know, I have a friend who manages 1.5B and I asked him if I should leave it in or try and get in lower and he said, 'I'm staying in, but if you feel better, take it out, see where the bottom is.'
Within a day of that, it was back up over 100.

What you are doing is not "stupid". It probably also is not exactly what anyone else here is doing. You need to do you.
The most important thing is continuing to educate yourself, and don't be in a hurry. Only do things when you are confident you want to make the choice.
It is reasonable to use a small amount of your assets to buy high conviction individual stocks, though it is reasonable too to just stick with ETFs.
I would suggest as part of your education that you should also make some paper portfolios to compete with your real one. For instance, instead of NVDA and NFLX, maybe you considered TSM and ORCL, make a porfolio for that... especially if you are thinking about things other than tech. You could make one with GE and JPM.
But even more important, experiment with other ETFs or at least a different percentage than your current 90/10 portfolio. For example, you could make one you consider higher risk, and see how that does. And then another one more conservative.

NVDA, ASML, TSM.

And yet I've gotten wrecked with TSM again and again.

$META $TSLA $MSFT $NVDA $AMD $TSM $BGM $PLTR

On June 24, Apple (AAPL) plans to use TSMC’s (TSM) next-generation 2nm process technology in the iPhone 18 series to be launched in 2026, combined with advanced WMCM packaging methods.
TSMC builds a 2nm dedicated production line for Apple
WMCM packaging technology excels in multi-chip integration, and can tightly integrate complex systems such as CPU, GPU, DRAM, and other custom accelerators (such as AI/ML chips) in one package, providing greater flexibility, allowing different types of chips to be stacked vertically or placed side by side in the package, and optimizing communication between them.
As the world’s leading pure wafer foundry, TSMC has established a dedicated production line for Apple. TSMC plans to start producing 2nm chips at the end of 2025, and Apple is expected to become the first company to obtain chips based on this new process.
AI computing power competition is heating up
With the launch of DeepSeek applications in the first half of this year, especially after AI computing power is adapted to DeepSeek, the global computing power base is changing. DeepSeek has achieved excellent performance in a low computing power environment through breakthroughs in reinforcement learning (RL) and model distillation technology. This progress not only expands the application scenarios of AI models, but also creates new market opportunities for GPU cloud platforms.
In the face of the computing power era, the importance of AI computing power is self-evident. The core lifeblood of AI computing power, AI chips, has become the focus of global technology competition. Last week, AMD (AMD) in the GPU (graphics processor) camp just released a new series of AI chips MI350, saying that the new chip performance is better than NVIDIA (NVDA).
In response to the challenges, NVIDIA has recently focused on promoting the implementation of “sovereign AI” in many places around the world to drive GPU sales. Market analysis agencies have also recently predicted that NVIDIA’s customers are still looking for alternatives to AI chips, which puts pressure on NVIDIA.
Recently, NVIDIA announced that it will build the first industrial AI cloud in Germany, equipped with 10,000 Blackwell GPUs, and build more than 20 AI factories in Europe. Institutions believe that NVIDIA is still a strong driving force for the growth of the semiconductor chip industry.
Industry insiders pointed out that on the other hand, the rapid evolution of GPU cloud is of great significance to accelerating the development of intelligent bodies. As the industry continues to embrace digital transformation in many AI scenarios including healthcare, finance, games and self-driving cars, the AI ​​chip computing market will explode under the drive of various application needs.
WiMi builds an open source ecosystem for AI chips
Undoubtedly, this technological change comparable to the information revolution is pushing the global AI computing power infrastructure competition into a new stage. Public information shows that AI chip company Wimi Hologram Cloud Inc (WIMI) continues to advance its layout, and the evolution of large model technology has spawned new infrastructure needs, making its AI computing power industry benefit from external support and ecological chain investment, and is rising rapidly.
In fact, WiMi has established an integrated computing power base for cloud and edge, supporting advanced AI chips to build a diversified architecture to meet the needs of large model training and reasoning. At the same time, we will work with universities and research institutions to establish a micro-consciousness quantum science research center, focusing on cutting-edge fields such as quantum computing and edge chips, reducing the access costs of small and medium-sized enterprises, accelerating the transformation of scientific research results, optimizing the adaptation of computing power in industry scenarios, and realizing the commercialization of AI open source technology.

Hey dad. I mean buddy
I’ve been sticking to TSM HOOD the last week
I’m ok with watching just 2 stocks - and milking them for everything they got - before looking at others.

It’s not like I’m married to either - I just like that they let me keep rolling them and they keep getting me higher and higher 🥸🚀🥵🤣🫶🏽

Hi. New here. Google me if you want the history - it’s all true.
🐦‍🔥
Anyway.
Last weekend $78 was transferred into my trading account.
At some point near close on 6/23 - I got some $TSM calls
$225c 6/27
Ended at $52 that day, down 33.33%
6/25 - I rolled those into more $TSM calls $225c
6/27
6/27 - I rolled into $TSM 235c 7/3 & added $HOOD 85c 7/3
This morning
rolled the $HOOD calls to $90c 7/3 and stacked more before the 11am meeting + some more $TSM 235c 7/3 (danger!)
238% on the $HOOD calls at close 433% rn Afterhours …
Tomorrow I should have close to $10k. From $78
I can’t paper hand anything - I HAVE to hold overnight - can’t day trade in my account under 25k.
restriction against day trades can’t be lifted on my account as I’ve used my one time “forgiveness” option.
Today at close my account closed at $5319
Looking pretty good overnight…
🫶🏽
🤞🏾🫶🏽😶‍🌫️💨🚀🌙👽
🐦‍🔥
Linktr.ee/x52x

TSM +2.8% on Taiwan exchange

Sell TSM or wait until earnings? Price target is $226 😫

I personally think going heavy into tech is the way to go. The tech index has performed more than double the sp500 over the past 30 years (even accounting for the dot com crash). I think the 30% satellite is more reasonable than what I’m doing. However, I feel like if you go over 10% tech sector you might as well throw caution to the wind.
My portfolio: 25% large cap (momentum/quality). 25% mid/small cap (momentum/quality). 25% tech ETFs, 25% single stocks (NVDA, MSFT, PLTR, BRKB, TSM, AVGO).

mid-July: if TSM numbers poop the party, or with some magic BBB gets stalled.

I'm actually not aware, what's wrong with it? I know they're using TSM to make the chips this year so maybe that'll fix the issues.

Coupang (CPNG) - The leading e-commerce provider in South Korea. They are vertically integrated and have intentionally followed much of the Amazon playbook. Insane logistics advantage and are beginning to see operating leverage from higher margin services like their subscription and fulfillment offerings to merchants.
Remitly and Wise (RELY, WISE) - The market has really soured on remittance providers lately due to immigration concerns and threat of Stablecoins. But both of these platforms are easy to use and are significantly lower cost than legacy solutions. Both of these platforms have grown active users at a 25%+ CAGR over the last 10 years. Those customers tend to attract more customers. Seems like we should see good growth over the next decade.
Taiwan Semi (TSM) - Boring, I know. But damn they are way ahead. Over the last few years in particular, they have distanced themselves from other foundries especially in the High Performance Computing (HPC) segment. I personally think AI spending will continue to grow and TSM management seems to think the same as they said they expect 40% annual growth in HPC for the next 5 years. 17x EV/EBIT for perhaps one of the most competitively advantaged businesses in the world. I like it here. Geopolitics obviously the big risk.

True, except for AMAT , the other appreciated more than 20% for me and I thought this was the right time to trim and not hurt my ego. I am sticking with ASML and TSM forever though. *Unless China does something magnificent.

Chips 🍪 Chips 🍪 
**July 10** - TSM shipment numbers 
**July 17** - TSM results 

Trimmed Semi Cap LRCX, AMAT, KLAC, CDNS, SNPS due to concentration risk , seeing as TSM , ASML are big in my portfolio. Looking to trim some positions further.
Raised 5% cash across Taxable, Roth and HSA for future opportunities.

## Cheap Calls
These call options offer the lowest ratio of Call Pricing (IV) relative to historical volatility (HV). These options are priced expecting the underlying to move up significantly less than it has moved up in the past. Buy these calls.
| Stock/C/P | % Change | Direction | Put $ | Call $ | Put Premium | Call Premium | E.R. | Beta | Efficiency |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ANET/102/100 | 2.68% | 57.99 | $1.12 | $1.78 | 0.25 | 0.27 | 31 | 1.47 | 89.1 |
| PANW/207.5/202.5 | 0.84% | 42.39 | $1.9 | $0.66 | 0.28 | 0.27 | 49 | 1.21 | 63.6 |
| CMCSA/36/35 | 0.17% | -38.1 | $0.23 | $0.06 | 0.9 | 0.45 | 24 | 0.72 | 64.0 |
| SNOW/225/222.5 | 0.92% | 28.92 | $1.88 | $2.74 | 0.53 | 0.5 | 51 | 1.44 | 87.0 |
| WDC/64/63 | 0.43% | 106.18 | $0.8 | $0.6 | 0.51 | 0.51 | 31 | 1.46 | 69.6 |
| NTAP/107/105 | 0.26% | -1.54 | $1.02 | $0.57 | 0.62 | 0.53 | 58 | 1.2 | 69.9 |
| NET/195/192.5 | 0.75% | 69.82 | $2.38 | $2.48 | 0.62 | 0.54 | 38 | 1.62 | 63.4 |
## Cheap Puts
These put options offer the lowest ratio of Put Pricing (IV) relative to historical volatility (HV). These options are priced expecting the underlying to move down significantly less than it has moved down in the past. Buy these puts.
| Stock/C/P | % Change | Direction | Put $ | Call $ | Put Premium | Call Premium | E.R. | Beta | Efficiency |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ANET/102/100 | 2.68% | 57.99 | $1.12 | $1.78 | 0.25 | 0.27 | 31 | 1.47 | 89.1 |
| PANW/207.5/202.5 | 0.84% | 42.39 | $1.9 | $0.66 | 0.28 | 0.27 | 49 | 1.21 | 63.6 |
| CAT/387.5/385 | 0.2% | 111.78 | $2.36 | $2.69 | 0.48 | 0.6 | 37 | 0.97 | 72.2 |
| WDC/64/63 | 0.43% | 106.18 | $0.8 | $0.6 | 0.51 | 0.51 | 31 | 1.46 | 69.6 |
| SNOW/225/222.5 | 0.92% | 28.92 | $1.88 | $2.74 | 0.53 | 0.5 | 51 | 1.44 | 87.0 |
| TTD/73/71 | 1.88% | 78.62 | $0.8 | $0.96 | 0.54 | 0.59 | 39 | 1.71 | 91.9 |
| CVS/69/68 | -0.01% | 90.33 | $0.33 | $0.66 | 0.54 | 0.6 | 31 | 0.52 | 89.4 |
## Upcoming Earnings
These stocks have earnings comning up and their premiums are usuallly elevated as a result. These are high risk high reward option plays where you can buy (long options) or sell (short options) the expected move.
| Stock/C/P | % Change | Direction | Put $ | Call $ | Put Premium | Call Premium | E.R. | Beta | Efficiency |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| STZ/165/160 | 0.31% | 9.32 | $3.6 | $3.75 | 1.97 | 2.3 | 1 | 0.53 | 93.2 |
| XOM/110/108 | -0.66% | -6.53 | $0.66 | $0.36 | 0.75 | 0.75 | 7 | 0.53 | 92.1 |
| DAL/50/49 | 0.2% | 76.1 | $0.55 | $0.7 | 0.8 | 0.83 | 9 | 1.56 | 91.9 |
| AXP/320/315 | 0.63% | 60.94 | $1.68 | $2.12 | 0.64 | 0.59 | 14 | 1.23 | 87.0 |
| WFC/81/79 | 1.29% | 35.53 | $0.29 | $0.74 | 0.78 | 0.78 | 15 | 0.88 | 95.2 |
| UAL/80/78 | 0.58% | 71.79 | $0.88 | $1.36 | 0.82 | 0.79 | 15 | 1.94 | 82.4 |
| TSM/227.5/222.5 | -0.47% | 64.11 | $1.53 | $2.22 | 0.62 | 0.66 | 16 | 1.46 | 96.9 |
- **Historical Move v Implied Move:** We determine the historical volatility (standard deviation of daily log returns) of the underlying asset and compare that to the current implied volatility (IV) of the option price. We use the same DTE as a look back period. This is used to determine the Call or Put Premium associated with the pricing of options (implied volatility).

- **Directional Bias:** Ranges from negative (bearish) to positive (bullish) and accounts for RSI, price trend, moving averages, and put/call skew over the past 6 weeks.
- **Priced Move:** given the current option prices, how much in dollar amounts will the underlying have to move to make the call/put break even. This is how much vol the option is pricing in. The expected move.
- **Expiration:** 2025-07-03.
- **Call/Put Premium:** How much extra you are paying for the implied move relative to the historic move. Low numbers mean options are "cheaper." High numbers mean options are "expensive."
- **Efficiency:** This factor represents the bid/ask spreads and the depth of the order book relative to the price of the option. It represents how much traders will pay in slippage with a round trip trade. Lower numbers are less efficient than higher numbers.
- **E.R.:** Days unitl the next Earnings Release. This feature is still in beta as we work on a more complete list of earnings dates.
- **Why isn't my stock on this list?** It doesn't have "weeklies", the underlying is "too cheap", or the options markets are too illiquid (open interest) to qualify for this strategy. 480 underlyings are used in this report and only the top results end up passing the criteria for each filter.

Why is TSM going down?