TSMC has passed Tencent to become Asia’s most valuable company, a testament to TSMC’s ascendance and Tencent’s troubles at home.
Taiwan’s TSMC has become the leader in the semiconductor industry, manufacturing chips for everyone from Apple to Intel. The company is widely considered to have a healthy lead technologically, making it that much harder for its competitors to challenge its position in the market.
In the meantime, Tencent has been facing challenges in its home country of China. The company is behind a number of popular mobile games, such as PUBG Mobile and COD Mobile, but China has been critical of the impact of video games on young people. Being under the government’s scrutiny has been enough to blunt Tencent’s value, creating further opportunity for TSMC to pass it.
According to CNBC, TSMC is now worth $538 billion, as opposed to Tencent, which is worth $536 billion.