Is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSM) the Best Long Term Tech Stock to Buy Right Now?

We recently published a list of 10 Best Long Term Tech Stocks to Buy Right Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) stands against other best long term tech stocks to buy right now.

As per Deloitte, amidst uncertainties and economic turbulence, the broader technology industry can see growth in 2025, courtesy of elevated IT spending, AI investments, and a strong emphasis on innovation. Some analysts expect that global IT spending is expected to grow by 9.3% in 2025, with data center and software segments anticipating to increase at double-digit rates. Notably, worldwide spending on AI is projected to increase at a CAGR of 29% from 2024 to 2028.

Spending To Go Northwards, Says S&P Global

S&P Global sees global IT spending to increase by 9% in 2025, reflecting an improvement from the low 8% area in 2024, with AI spurring massive data center spending and enterprises renewing their investments in traditional hardware. The enterprises have been entering 2025 with a transition to the cloud, and they are slowly accelerating their investments in GenAI projects. The rating agency opines that hardware spending is expected to improve significantly in 2025.

The server shipments are expected to increase ~4% but revenue growth will be significantly higher considering high AI server ASPs. The firm sees network equipment and mobile telecom equipment makers returning to growth while storage sales are expected to grow ~4%. Hyperscale cloud providers are expected to sustain strong revenue growth of over 20%, and the rest of IT services can recover with a growth of ~5% after lackluster performance over the previous 2 years. S&P Global sees this recovery due to the early signs of demand stabilization during Q2 2024 and Q3 2024, with several IT service providers reporting growth in bookings for large transformation projects and improving annual contract values in critical verticals.

READ ALSO: 7 Best Stocks to Buy For Long-Term and 8 Cheap Jim Cramer Stocks to Invest In.

Key Trends for 2025

In 2025, Capgemini expects AI and GenAI to have a significant impact on companies’ priorities and also on several adjacent technology domains, including robotics, supply chains, and tomorrow’s energy mix. Autonomous intelligent systems continue to be more prevalent in performing certain tasks. The next step will be the rise of a ‘super-agent,’ who can orchestrate and optimize several AI systems. In 2025, such advancements are expected to allow new AI ecosystems throughout industries.

The businesses have been navigating complex and unpredictable market conditions. As per Capgemini, technologies such as AI, data, blockchain, IoT, and connectivity with terrestrial-satellite networks can help enhance cost efficiency, resilience, agility, and sustainability of supply chains. Furthermore, additional regulatory and environmental constraints are expected to make this pivot important to ensure competitiveness, agility, and resilience.

Our Methodology

To list the 10 Best Long Term Tech Stocks to Buy Right Now, we used a screener to shortlist the stocks catering to the broader technology sector. Next, we filtered out the ones that have at least 10%-12% revenue growth over the past 10 years and are popular among hedge funds. Finally, the stocks are arranged in ascending order of their hedge fund sentiment, as of Q4 2024.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

Is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSM) the Best Long Term Tech Stock to Buy Right Now?

A close-up of a complex network of integrated circuits used in logic semiconductors.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM)

10-Year Revenue Growth: ~14.2%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 186

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) is engaged in manufacturing, packaging, testing, and selling integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices. Morningstar believes that the company’s leadership in node advancement stems from the ability to correctly and consistently prioritize correct areas in which to innovate for nodes while, at the same time, maintaining fiscal discipline. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM)’s leading position in advanced processes can result in attracting and retaining more customers, stable utilization of expanding production capacities, and reduce production costs, leading to increased returns than competitors due to the cost advantage and ensuring enough profits to finance R&D and capex on subsequent nodes.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) is expected to earn higher gross margins for the foreseeable future due to the economies of scale and premium pricing, which are aided by cutting-edge process technologies. Morningstar also expects that the company can see a top-line CAGR of 15.5% over the upcoming 5 years. As per the firm, IoT and automotive applications are expected to act as sources of higher demand for newer specialty products.

Wedgewood Partners, an investment management company, released its Q4 2024 investor letter. Here is what the fund said:

“Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) was another top contributor to performance during the quarter and for the year. The Company’s earnings growth dramatically accelerated compared to last year as the Company’s wafer fabrication and packaging volumes soared in 2024. In addition, the Company customer prices rebounded in the face of more normalized capital expenditures. The Company maintains a near-monopoly in the fabrication of nearly every new AI accelerator brought to market over the past two years. They continue investing tens of billions to build and 7ill future capacity with orders for what seems to be insatiable hyperscale demand for accelerated computing. The stock ended the year trading at a consensus forward earnings multiple that is several points lower than large cap growth benchmarks, despite the Company’s dominant position in the most important industry that is driving one of the largest technological shifts in a generation.”

Overall, TSM ranks 6th on our list of best long term tech stocks to buy right now. While we acknowledge the potential of TSM as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued AI stock that is more promising than TSM but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.