TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO LTD

TSMdata completeness 88%8 fiscal years on file

Data notes: no data for concept 'totalDebt'; no data for concept 'interestExpense'

The thesis, from the filings

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO LTD earns about 51% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, with a roughly flat share count — a real edge showing up in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $11.12 and $42.01 a share.Whether it’s worth owning at today’s price is the last question — and yours to answer, below.

i. The business — what you’d actually own
FigureFY 2020FY 2021FY 2022FY 2023FY 2024
Revenue$47.7B1$57.2B2$73.7B3$70.6B4$88.3B5
Net income$18.2B6$21.4B7$32.3B8$27.8B9$35.3B10
Operating cash flow$29.3B11$40.1B12$52.4B13$40.6B14$55.7B15
Capital expenditure$18.1B16$30.3B17$35.2B18$31B19$29.2B20
Free cash flow (derived)$11.2B11$9.84B12$17.2B13$9.54B14$26.5B15
Total debt
Cash & equivalents$23.8B21$34.7B22$43.9B23$44.7B24$64.9B24
Diluted shares25.93B25.93B25.93B25.93B25.93B

Superscripts are receipts. Each links to the SEC filing the number came from (full list at the bottom).

ii. Your slice — ownership made literal
If you owned
shares
Net assets behind them
$49.91
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$13.62
Free cash flow it threw off
$10.23
Debt you’d be carrying

10 shares is a claim on $49.91 of net worth that earned you $13.62 and generated $10.23 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
51% avg · 5y
FY20 44%FY21 50%FY22 64%FY23 41%FY24 55%

It earned about 51% on invested capital, year after year, against a ~9% cost of capital — the footprint of real pricing power. Competition usually drags returns like this back down; here it hasn't.

seeing a moat in the numbers →
Management signal · capital allocation
+0% shares · 5y

Share count is roughly flat over 5 years — little dilution, little buyback.

reading capital allocation →

Signals, not verdicts — read from the filings above. Numbers don’t prove a moat; they show its footprint. You decide.

iv. What it’s worth — engine v0.1.0

The 3 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $11.12 and $42.01 a share. They rest on different assumptions, so where they diverge is the story; the Graham Number is a stricter floor, not a target.

DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
$42.01
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$17.2B
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$24.1
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$17.2B
Earnings Power Value
$11.12
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$27.8B
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$12.36
assumptions (1)
  • grahamMultiplier2250.0%

Different models answer different questions — which to trust when →

v. The price question — last, on purpose
Is today’s price fair?
See live price ↗
Type a price. The ledger answers.
Or set your own belief
FCF growth, next 5 years20.0%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $24.1
The three cases
Bear0.0%$11.97
Base20.0%$24.1
Bull20.0%$24.1

Bear/base/bull growth = 0% / filed history / history + 5pp. Type a price to see the return each case implies.

Default growth 20.0%= this company’s own filed history (median-to-median FCF CAGR, clamped 0–20%). Your adjustments are recorded anonymously. They become the “what do owners actually believe” dataset.

Sources — the receipts
  1. 20-F · period ending 2020-12-31 · accession 0001193125-21-118512 (Revenue)
  2. 20-F · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001193125-22-104891 (Revenue)
  3. 20-F · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001193125-23-107214 (Revenue)
  4. 20-F · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001193125-24-099840 (Revenue)
  5. 20-F · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001193125-25-083423 (Revenue)
  6. 20-F · period ending 2020-12-31 · accession 0001193125-21-118512 (ProfitLossAttributableToOwnersOfParent)
  7. 20-F · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001193125-22-104891 (ProfitLossAttributableToOwnersOfParent)
  8. 20-F · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001193125-23-107214 (ProfitLossAttributableToOwnersOfParent)
  9. 20-F · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001193125-24-099840 (ProfitLossAttributableToOwnersOfParent)
  10. 20-F · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001193125-25-083423 (ProfitLossAttributableToOwnersOfParent)
  11. 20-F · period ending 2020-12-31 · accession 0001193125-21-118512 (CashFlowsFromUsedInOperatingActivities)
  12. 20-F · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001193125-22-104891 (CashFlowsFromUsedInOperatingActivities)
  13. 20-F · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001193125-23-107214 (CashFlowsFromUsedInOperatingActivities)
  14. 20-F · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001193125-24-099840 (CashFlowsFromUsedInOperatingActivities)
  15. 20-F · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001193125-25-083423 (CashFlowsFromUsedInOperatingActivities)
  16. 20-F · period ending 2020-12-31 · accession 0001193125-21-118512 (PurchaseOfPropertyPlantAndEquipmentClassifiedAsInvestingActivities)
  17. 20-F · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001193125-22-104891 (PurchaseOfPropertyPlantAndEquipmentClassifiedAsInvestingActivities)
  18. 20-F · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001193125-23-107214 (PurchaseOfPropertyPlantAndEquipmentClassifiedAsInvestingActivities)
  19. 20-F · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001193125-24-099840 (PurchaseOfPropertyPlantAndEquipmentClassifiedAsInvestingActivities)
  20. 20-F · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001193125-25-083423 (PurchaseOfPropertyPlantAndEquipmentClassifiedAsInvestingActivities)
  21. 20-F · period ending 2020-12-31 · accession 0001193125-22-104891 (CashAndCashEquivalents)
  22. 20-F · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001193125-23-107214 (CashAndCashEquivalents)
  23. 20-F · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001193125-24-099840 (CashAndCashEquivalents)
  24. 20-F · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001193125-25-083423 (CashAndCashEquivalents)