Below is an important message from one of our highly valued sponsors. Please read it carefully as they have some special information to share with you.

---

Dear Reader,
 
It’s official…
 
SpaceX is going public…
 
And they’re saying it could be anywhere from $800 billion…
 
To $1.5 TRILLION!
 
To date, the biggest IPO ever was Saudi Aramco… at a mere $25.6 billion.
 
That means…

SpaceX’s IPO could be 58X BIGGERthan the largest IPO in history.

 Wall Street insiders are salivating at this massive stock move.
 
But here’s the thing…
 
You do NOT have to be left out of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
 
In fact, you can get action on this SpaceX IPO right now – before it goes public, in a regular brokerage account …
 
And you can get into this play for less than $100.
 
Click here for the full story.
 
It sounds nuts…
 
But this is your chance to beat Wall Street to the punch…
 
And get a piece of the action on the BIGGEST IPO in history…
 
Before the news even hits the market.
 
Do NOT miss this opportunity.
 
Click here to learn how to claim your stake NOW.
 
Best,
Matt Insley

Publisher, Paradigm Press

---

Exclusive News

The $56 Billion Draft: Follow TSMC’s CapEx Stream

Authored by Jeffrey Neal Johnson. Posted: 1/16/2026. 

Key Takeaways

• The leading foundry is increasing its budget to fund a massive expansion of manufacturing capacity for artificial intelligence processors.
• Equipment manufacturers are seeing increased demand for specialized tools required to produce the next generation of advanced transistor architectures.
• The transition to complex new chip designs forces manufacturers to purchase specific machinery that cannot be substituted by competitor products.

When Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE: TSM) (TSMC) released its fourth-quarter earnings in mid-January 2026, most mainstream outlets focused on the bottom line. A net profit of $16 billion is impressive, but it isn’t the data point that sophisticated investors should be watching. Buried in the company’s forward-looking guidance was a far more consequential figure for the semiconductor supply chain: a projected 2026 capital expenditure (CapEx) budget of $52 billion to $56 billion.

That number represents a staggering amount of liquidity about to flood the market. It is the cash TSMC plans to spend on new fabs, advanced equipment, and materials over the next twelve months. For the fundamental investor, this spending plan suggests a specific strategy I call Drafting the Titan.

Jeff Brown’s Prediction: Banks Replacing Dollars Soon (Ad)

Do you have money in any of these banks?

Chase. Bank of America. Citigroup. Wells Fargo. U.S. Bancorp.

If you do…Click here now because they’re preparing for what could be the biggest change to our financial syste

In competitive cycling, a rider drafts behind a leader to reduce wind resistance and gain speed with less effort. In the stock market, the semiconductor equipment industry is currently drafting behind TSMC. As the foundry giant ramps spending to meet insatiable demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, its suppliers are pulled forward. TSMC cannot scale production without transferring much of that capital to its partners.

Profiting From the War, Not the Winner

The primary case for the titan-drafting strategy is risk mitigation. Trying to pick the ultimate winner in the AI chip race is a volatile, high-risk endeavor. Market share can shift quickly; a technical delay or misstep can crash a company’s stock overnight.

Almost every high-performance AI chip designed by these rivals shares one common denominator: they must be manufactured by TSMC. Whether NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) maintains its lead or Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) captures more share in 2026 matters far less to equipment suppliers. The manufacturing process is similar across designers, and the machines required to build the chips are largely the same.

In this framework, equipment manufacturers resemble the arms dealers of the AI revolution: they sell the infrastructure to all combatants and get paid regardless of who wins. That dynamic has led major institutions to adjust their outlooks. After the earnings call, analysts at Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley issued bullish upgrades for the equipment sector, viewing these firms as direct beneficiaries of derivative demand. These companies essentially operate like a toll booth on the AI superhighway: if AI chip volume rises, equipment orders — the toll — must be collected.

Hardware Refresh: The Mandatory Upgrades for 2nm Chips

To identify which stocks are most likely to benefit from the $52–$56 billion capital injection, investors should look at the specific technology TSMC is deploying. The focus for 2026 is mass production of 2-nanometer (2 nm) chips. This transition, often called the Angstrom Era, is more than a software update — it requires a physical overhaul of the manufacturing line.

The move to a new transistor architecture, Gate-All-Around (GAAFET), introduces physical challenges legacy equipment cannot handle. Two illustrative supplier roles are:

• Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) and the wiring problem: As feature sizes shrink, microscopic copper wiring becomes increasingly cramped. Wires that are too close can overheat or short. To address this, TSMC is adopting Backside Power Delivery, which moves power lines to the back of the silicon wafer, separating them from data transistors. That step requires specialized material-deposition tools from Applied Materials — equipment TSMC cannot simply retrofit from its old inventory.
• Lam Research (NASDAQ: LRCX) and the vertical challenge: Modern AI chips are becoming more three-dimensional, stacking memory and logic to boost performance. Creating reliable vertical connections requires drilling deep, perfectly straight holes through silicon. Lam Research dominates cryogenic etching technology, which freezes wafers to etch those holes without damaging delicate structures.

For TSMC, these purchases are essentially mandatory. The laws of physics make certain machines — and the vendors that supply them — indispensable for 2nm production.

No Substitutes: The High Cost of Switching Vendors

Investors often worry that a buyer as large as TSMC will pressure suppliers on price or switch to cheaper competitors. The titan-drafting strategy is insulated from that risk by very high switching costs. In semiconductor manufacturing, tools are chemically and physically embedded into the process recipe.

Replacing a vendor for a critical step, such as inspection or lithography, would force TSMC to stop production and restart years of development and qualification.

• KLA Corp (NASDAQ: KLAC): As manufacturing complexity rises, the value of a single wafer has grown dramatically — meaning that a defect late in the process can be extremely costly. KLA provides the optical inspection systems that detect defects early, and as TSMC moves to 2nm, the Process Control Intensity — the amount of inspection required per wafer — increases. TSMC is effectively buying yield insurance from KLA to protect margins.
• ASML Holding (NASDAQ: ASML): While TSMC may be selective about the latest High-NA machines, demand for standard Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography remains the backbone of the 2nm push. ASML is the sole provider of this technology, giving it considerable pricing power and making substitution impractical.

The Geographic Multiplier: Double the Fabs, Double the Tools

Another catalyst sometimes overlooked is TSMC’s geographic diversification. In response to global supply-chain concerns, TSMC is building new fabs in Arizona and Japan, in addition to its primary hubs in Taiwan.

For equipment suppliers, this creates a geographic multiplier: heavy, specialized machinery cannot be shared across distant plants. TSMC must purchase duplicate sets of tools for each site to maintain consistent standards globally. That redundancy elevates order books above what they would be if production were centralized.

The investment narrative for AI is shifting from pure software and chip designers toward the heavy infrastructure that makes growth possible. TSMC has committed up to $56 billion to fuel this expansion. For investors seeking exposure to where that capital is most likely to land, the most logical places are the equipment manufacturers building the foundation of the digital economy.

Thank you for subscribing to The Early Bird, MarketBeat’s 7:00 AMnewsletter that covers stories that will impact the stock market each day.

This email is a sponsored message from Paradigm Press, a third-party advertiser of The Early Bird and MarketBeat. 

If you need help with your newsletter, please don’t hesitate to email our U.S. based support team at contact@marketbeat.com.

If you no longer wish to receive email from The Early Bird, you can unsubscribe.

© 2006-2026 MarketBeat Media, LLC. All rights protected.
345 N Reid Place, Suite 620, Sioux Falls, SD 57103. USA..

Check This Out: The AI trade is entering a more profitable phase(Click to Opt-In)