Taiwan's stock market surpasses India's market cap led by AI boom in chip stocks

The Taiwanese stock market is buzzing in Indian investor circles as it has surpassed the Indian stock market by market capitalisation, crossing the $4 trillion mark. Taiwan, which is known for its chip manufacturing dominance, has received significant investor interest in the latest AI boom. The outperformance comes at a time when Indian tech players are lagging in participating in the AI-driven boom, whereas companies from East Asia, including Samsung, SK Hynix, TSMC, are at the forefront of the rally along with western stalwarts like NVIDIA, Meta, Microsoft, Micron, AMD, Alphabet, Amazon and others. Meanwhile, Indian benchmark indices, which comprise more financial stocks, have lagged in the AI-led global rally.

Taiwan’s stock exchange and benchmark index, the Taiwan Weighted, has more than doubled in the past one year and jumped 58% in the past six months. Much of the rally is driven by electronics and semiconductor stocks. Shares like TSMC and Foxconn drive the majority of the benchmark returns as the electronics and semiconductor sector dominates ~60% to ~70% of the index.

TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company), which owns the majority of the chip manufacturing globally, holds 42% to 44% of the index weightage in the TAIEX index. In 2025, TAIEX climbed 5,928 points, out of which TSMC alone contributed to ~3,818 points. Similarly, in 2026 YTD, TSMC’s more than 50% rally has single-handedly led to Taiwan’s outperformance vs India. Media reports also highlight that, excluding the electronics and semiconductor stocks, the rest of the market remains stranded.

A similar type of disproportionate returns is visible in the South Korean markets as well. Shares of Samsung and SK Hynix constitute more than 52% of the benchmark Kospi index. The two memory chipmakers have rallied over 200% in one year, leading to a rally of over 100% in the index.

On the other hand, Indian markets are struggling to find a trigger for a rally in the aftermath of the impact of the West Asia crisis. The benchmark NIFTY50 index is down nearly 9% in 2026 on a YTD basis.