Stifel 首次覆盖台积电、格芯和 Tower Semiconductor，均给买入评级；核心论点为晶圆代工是 AI 硬件价值链的工业瓶颈

Taiwan Semiconductor ( TSM ), GlobalFoundries ( GFS ), and Tower Semiconductor ( TSEM ) were in focus on Wednesday as investment firm Stifel started coverage on the semiconductor foundries with a Buy rating and price targets of $515, $60, and $270, respectively. “Our core call is straightforward: the foundry is the industrial bottleneck of the AI hardware value chain,” Stifel analyst Sahej Singh wrote in a note to clients. “Demand for advanced silicon is rising secularly faster than supply can be added and the binding constraint are the manufacturers who enable watts and wafers, with a few key themes in focus over the next few years along the lines of high-performance compute (HPC), advanced packaging (CoWoS), near-packaged and co-packaged optics (CPO/NPO), and high-bandwidth memory; We frame the subsector as industrial-cyclical due to operating leverage which correlates to annual stock returns.” Singh said he believes both advanced (TSMC) and specialty (GFS and TSEM) foundries are positioned well to benefit from the continued growth. “We classify TSM as a 'must-own' top-quality long-horizon buy that benefits from multi-year compounded growth, while GFS and TSEM are idiosyncratic growth stories in the making, with the former being a 'show-me' on execution and the latter already seeing significant earnings accretion with longer-tailed visibility,” Singh added. GlobalFoundries and Tower Semiconductor both have Top Pick designations from Stifel as well. Separately, on Wednesday, a Taiwan Semiconductor executive told reporters that the foundry's need for tools to make chips has almost doubled since the end of 2025.