Taiwan Stock Investment Map in the Wave of AI: From Industry Gaps to Opportunities in Copper Foil Substrate Concept Stocks

AI Advanced Cycle Continues to Heat Up, Taiwan Becomes Global Chip Hub

Huang Renxun has repeatedly visited Taiwan to expedite orders, establishing it as NVIDIA’s global R&D center, and this is no coincidence. By 2025, Taiwan’s tech industry faces unprecedented supply pressures—GPU capacity tightness, advanced packaging orders full, and a complete shortage of cooling materials. This AI supercycle has been ongoing since 2024, with upstream and downstream industries competing for limited production resources.

For investors, this shortage signals opportunity.

Industry Gap Chain: A Comprehensive Sweep from Chips to Materials

Understanding the 2026 Taiwan stock trend hinges on grasping the supply chain changes brought by AI server upgrades. NVIDIA’s next-generation platform demands higher specifications for copper foil substrates, high-grade fiberglass cloth, and other materials, leading to upstream material shortages and continuous price hikes.

This upgrade is not a short-term fluctuation but an irreversible trend. Foreign research indicates that the upgrades in CCL and copper foil specifications are inevitable, benefiting related concept stocks. Taiwan Optical (台光電) surged 159% year-round due to shortages of high-speed CCL and fiberglass cloth, becoming the strongest dark horse. Lianmao (聯茂) and Taiyo (台燿) also benefited from improved gross margins, while PCB and substrate manufacturers like Zhen Ding (臻鼎) and Unimicron (欣興) maintain high demand for ABF substrates, laying a growth foundation for next year.

Notably, the rise in copper foil substrate concept stocks reflects industry pricing of material bottlenecks. When upstream materials become critical constraints for AI servers, controlling these materials grants pricing power to manufacturers.

Rebuilding the Million-Dollar Stock Map: Cooling and Power Become New Focus

As of mid-December, Taiwan’s million-dollar stocks reached 28, setting a record high. However, it’s worth noting that this list has expanded from IC design to include cooling, PCB materials, power supplies, and testing interfaces, demonstrating the full spillover effect of AI demand.

Cooling stocks have become the biggest highlight. Qihong (奇鋐) and JianCe (健策) both soared into the million-dollar club, with annual gains approaching or exceeding 100%. GlobalWafers (信驊) remains the top stock, benefiting from BMC chips becoming standard in AI data centers, with its stock more than doubling this year and once surpassing 7,300 NT dollars.

Additionally, Chuanhu (川湖), Yingwai (穎崴), and Wangs (旺矽) all gained over 140%, with a clear logic—“where there’s a shortage, there’s a price.” Even the long-stable Delta Electronics (台達電), due to the surge in power demand from AI data centers, approached the million-dollar mark and overtook in the ranking of large-cap stocks.

Active ETF Deployment Tips: Institutional Optimism on the Direction

Recently listed Fuhua Future 50 (00991A) raised over 10 billion NT dollars. Although it faced a debut with a slight drop, its trading volume exceeded 230,000 shares, topping ETF transaction charts. The top ten components of this fund point to a clear investment logic: TSMC, Hongjin, Qihong, Wiwyn, Taiwan Optical, Delta Electronics, and others are all included.

Manager Lü Hongyu revealed that this allocation reflects institutional expectations for Taiwan stocks in 2026: semiconductor 35-45%, AI data center components 35-45%, AI servers and networking 5-15%, supplemented by some financial and traditional industries. AI remains Taiwan’s most important growth engine, with corporate profits expected to grow about 20%. Coupled with a mild interest rate cut environment, a bullish trend is expected to continue.

Technology Upgrades Drive the Next Investment Cycle

The focus in 2026 will be on NVIDIA’s new Vera Rubin (VR) platform. This product line features comprehensive upgrades in cooling, power consumption, and interconnect bandwidth. ODM giants like Quanta, Wiwyn, and Foxconn are already locked in as core partners, with related power, cooling, and PCB supply chains set to benefit again.

On the technical front, silicon photonics and CPO (co-packaged optics) are key technologies to solve high-speed transmission bottlenecks. Taiwan has formed a complete ecosystem from epitaxy and optical components to packaging, with companies like Lianya (聯亞) and Wuxi (穩懋) showing strong potential.

More importantly, the liquid cooling revolution is worth noting. As GPU power consumption surpasses one kilowatt, liquid cooling penetration will rapidly increase from below 10% to over 60%. Companies like Qihong, Shuanghong (雙鴻), and JianCe have already secured leading positions.

Investment Strategy: Grasp Industry Gaps, Focus on Copper Foil Substrates and Cooling Stocks

Currently, Taiwan stocks have experienced volatility and valuation concerns after a rally. However, from a fundamental perspective, AI-related capacity shortages are unlikely to ease before 2026, especially in advanced packaging, high-end materials, cooling systems, and power distribution. Copper foil substrate concept stocks, as midstream supply chain players, benefit from the confirmed trend of material upgrades.

Investors should focus on “segments with gaps,” paying attention to valuation levels and capacity expansion progress. Before industry shortages are resolved, companies controlling key materials and components will continue to benefit, forming the main investment themes for Taiwan stocks in 2026.