Chip giant TSMC crosses $1 trillion market cap, riding on the back of Nvidia's gains

• Shares of upstream chip companies TSMC and ASML have surged on the back of Nvidia's gains.
• TSMC's market cap briefly crossed $1 trillion on Monday.

Tech giant Nvidia has been riding the artificial intelligence wave that made it one of the world's most valuable companies.

Now, Nvidia's suppliers and upstream partners are riding on the hype, too.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC, ADR shares on the New York Stock Exchange briefly crossed the $1 trillion valuation mark on Monday after gaining as much as 4.8%. The stock is up nearly 80% this year to date.

TSMC's shares on the Taiwan Stock Exchange were 0.5% higher at 1,040 New Taiwan Dollars apiece, or $32.26 apiece, at 10:55 a.m. local time on Tuesday.

TSMC's stock surge on Monday came after Morgan Stanley said it expects the chip giant to hike full-year sales estimates next Thursday when it announces second-quarter earnings.

TSMC produces, by some estimates, 90% of the world's most advanced processor chips and is the sole supplier of key advanced chips to Nvidia and Apple, among others.

"Our latest supply chain checks indicate that TSMC is delivering a message that leading-edge foundry supply could be tight in 2025 and customers may not get sufficient capacity allocation without 'appreciating TSMC's value,'" wrote Morgan Stanley analysts led by Charlie Chan on Sunday.

The analysts called the strategy "hunger marketing."

Last month, TSMC CEO C.C. Wei hinted that the company was considering a price hike for its products.

Meanwhile, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has said there's so much demand for his company's chips that he has to allocate them "fairly."

It's not just TSMC that's reaping the benefits of Nvidia's meteoric rise.

Dutch company ASML, TSMC's equipment supplier, also got a lift with shares briefly crossing 1,000 euros, or $1,082, apiece for the first time on Monday.

ASML shares closed 0.5% higher at 997.90 euros apiece on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange on Monday and are 42% higher year to date.

ASML's stock is now worth 395 billion euros — making it the third-most valuable company in Europe after Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk and French luxury behemoth LVMH.

ASML reports second-quarter results on July 17.