By Carolina Mandl
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Big investment firms including Macquarie Group Ltd, Fidelity and hedge funds Tiger Global Management and Coatue Management LLC were among the largest buyers of U.S. listed shares of Taiwanese contract chipmaker TSMC, in the first quarter, according to regulatory filings.
Their moves come roughly three months after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway unveiled it cut its position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd last year.
During Berkshire’s annual meeting earlier this month, Buffett said TSMC is a “marvelous company,” but he feels more comfortable with investing in Japan than Taiwan, reflecting the growing tensions between the United States and China.
The so-called 13-F filings, which disclose investment firms’ portfolios, are closely watched for trends even though the data is released with a delay and can be dated.
Macquarie added roughly 78 million new American Depositary Shares (ADRs) of TSMC to an existing position, and ended March with $7.3 billion in the company. Fidelity bought 14.1 million new shares, increasing its bet on the company to nearly $4 billion.
Coatue, founded by Philippe Laffont, built a new position in the chipmaker as it bought 5.9 million shares, worth $548.9 million. Tiger acquired $147.8 million in shares.
U.S.-listed shares of TSMC jumped nearly 14.5% this year.
(Reporting by Carolina Mandl, in Sao Paulo; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili and Anna Driver)
