Warren Buffett lamented the geopolitical factors that led his company to reduce its stake in the island's chip-maker giant and stated that he prefers to deploy capital in Japan rather than Taiwan.
Buffett stated at Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s annual meeting on Saturday that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is one of the world's best-managed and most important companies. He stated, "Nobody in the chip industry can compete with them."
Even though Berkshire reported a $5 billion investment in November, Berkshire cut its stake in TSMC by 86% in the fourth quarter. Buffett has blamed the move on rising tensions between China and Taiwan.
Buffett advised the United States and China to curb their rivalry.
At the meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, he stated, "It's imperative that China and the United States both understand what the game is and that you can't push too hard." There will be competition in both places, but both can prosper."
Talking at a similar occasion, Buffett's long-term colleague Charlie Munger called for "proportional graciousness" between the two superpowers.
On Monday morning, TSMC rose as much as 1.8% in Taipei.
Buffett flagged an eagerness to make further interests in Japan after as of late bringing stakes up in exchanging organizations there. He stated that while Berkshire currently owns 7.4% of those companies, it will not exceed 9%.
Greg Abel, the likely successor to Buffett who went along with him out traveling to Japan last month, referred to them as "a mind boggling" speculation.
Because he was aware that there would be ongoing investments and relationships there, Buffett stated that he wanted to introduce Abel to executives from the five trading houses.
The trading houses known as "sogo shosha" in Japan provide everything from food to energy and have a long history in the country's economy.
On Monday morning in Tokyo, shares of Itochu Corp. rose as much as 1.5 percent. Additionally, Mitsubishi Corp. and Sumitomo Corp. gained, Marubeni Corp. remained unchanged, and Mitsui & Co. lost ground.
Buffett stated, "The Japanese thing was simple." I enjoy looking at businesses. I like seeing figures about organizations."