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Why Buffett Is Betting Big on Chips
Why Buffett Is Betting Big on Chips

Buffett's Berkshire Buys Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor, Sells Bank Stocks

Billionaire Warren Buffett sold some of Berkshire Hathaway's shares of U.S. Bancorp and Bank of New York Mellon.
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Warren Buffett's conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway purchased over $4 billion worth of shares of Taiwan Semiconductor  (TSM) - Get Free Report during the third quarter while it sold some shares of two bank stocks.

Berkshire Hathaway  (BRK.A) - Get Free Report (BRK.B) - Get Free Report sold its shares of Bank of New York  (BK) - Get Free Report and U.S. Bancorp  (USB) - Get Free Report, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange filing on Nov. 14. 

The behemoth bought shares of oil giant Chevron CVX and Occidental Petroleum  (OXY) - Get Free Report during the third quarter, but those purchases were disclosed previously.

Buffett's team acquired 60 million shares of Taiwan Semiconductor, which is a contract producer of semiconductors globally and was worth $4.4 billion on Monday. Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor stock rose by over 12% on Tuesday.

Semiconductor stocks took a beating during the height of the global pandemic as supply chain bottlenecks delayed shipments while demand rose. 

Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor have been trading at around half of the $145 peak it reached in January.

The conglomerate does not always disclose whether the decision to purchase the stocks is made by Buffett, who serves as CEO, or by Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, his investment managers, within Berkshire's $306 billion equity portfolio. 

Buffett has discussed in the past how he is less eager to buy tech stocks.

Apple AAPL remains its top stock holding and the number of shares did not change during the quarter. Berkshire owns 895 million shares that are valued at $132 billion and consist of 40% of the portfolio, while it also owns one billion shares of Bank of America that are worth $38 billion.

Berkshire divested 10.1 million shares of Bank of New York and now owns 62.2 million shares worth $2.7 billion.

The conglomerate also lowered its holding in U.S. Bancorp by 42 million shares to 77.8 million in the third quarter and lowered its stake to 52.5 million shares in October, which is now worth about $2.3 billion.

Berkshire increased its holding in Chevron by 3.9 million shares to a total of 165.3 million shares that are now worth $31 billion. The company also bought 35 million more shares in Occidental Petroleum to 194.3 million shares that now have a $14 billion valuation.

Berkshire raised its holding in Paramount  (PARA) - Get Free Report by 12.8 million shares to a total of 91.2 million shares that are valued at $1.7 billion. The stock has sunk by 38% in 2022 and Berkshire now has a 14% stake in the media company.

Berkshire's new investment was allocating $300 million into 5.8 million shares of Louisiana-Pacific  (LPX) - Get Free Report, a building materials manufacturer.

The company also made a smaller investment when it purchased 12.8 million shares of Jefferies Financial Group  (JEF) - Get Free Report, an investment bank, that are valued at $475 million.

Berkshire cut its holding in Activision Blizzard  (ATVI) - Get Free Report by eight million shares and now owns 60.1 million, which is valued at $4.4 billion.

Shares of Activision are trading at $74, falling by 4.65% during the past six months and far below the $95 a share acquisition offer from Microsoft MSFT because of antitrust issues.