TSMC said Thursday it plans to sell up to 152 million common shares of Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) to institutional investors through a block trade, reducing its stake in the specialty foundry from 27.1% to approximately 19%.
The sale represents about 8.1% of VIS's fully diluted paid-in capital. TSMC said it has no plans to divest further VIS shares in the foreseeable future.
The chipmaker framed the move as part of a broader effort to concentrate resources on core business activities. TSMC added that the divestment will not affect its existing operational ties with VIS, which include outsourcing interposer production to the company and licensing gallium nitride (GaN) technology to it.
TSMC had already stepped back from VIS governance in June 2024, when it ceased board representation.
The transaction signals a continued, measured distancing between Taiwan's two foundries. TSMC's gradual pullback — first from the boardroom, now from the cap table — suggests the parent is tidying its portfolio without severing commercially useful links.
For VIS, which serves mature-node customers in power, display driver, and embedded non-volatile memory segments, the ownership change is unlikely to alter its operational footing in the near term. The more consequential question is who absorbs the block: a strategic buyer could introduce new dynamics into VIS's shareholder base, while financial investors would leave its trajectory largely unchanged.
Article edited by Jack Wu
