Taiwan's AI stock boom makes early-stage funding harder

On November 3, 2026, Business Insider reported that Taiwan's AI stock boom is giving investors more ways to profit from the chip supply chain, while making it harder for early-stage startups to secure their first round of funding. Taiwan's benchmark Taiex index has climbed more than 50% this year, moving ahead of South Korea's Kospi as the best-performing major index globally. The rally extends well beyond Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), reaching chip design, advanced packaging, networking, and server companies. Around 7% of Taiwan-listed stocks have doubled this year, compared with 3% in South Korea. This broader exposure has made Taiwan a preferred destination for Asian AI-themed investing. A September Bank of America survey found that 35% of fund managers expected Taiwan to benefit most from the region's AI spending. The report also quotes the founder of a Y Combinator-backed startup who said that the promise of roughly 10x returns in the public market led him to raise funding mainly from Silicon Valley investors instead. As of now, the story remains a matter of market data and investor sentiment rather than any confirmed shift in funding patterns.