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Taiwan Semiconductor, as its name suggests, is not merely a manufacturer of silicon, but a weaver of the very fabric of our digital existence. It is the unseen hand that shapes the logic of machines, the silent partner in the creation of artificial intelligences that may, one day, surpass our own. To understand its power is to glimpse the underlying architecture of reality itself. Recent reports – meticulously compiled, I assure you – indicate a revenue increase of 26% in the final quarter of 2025, with high-performance computing – the domain of these nascent intelligences – accounting for a significant 55% of its earnings. The margins, too, are noteworthy – 62.3% gross, 54% operating – suggesting a company that has mastered not merely production, but the art of extracting value from the ephemeral currents of technological progress.

The cause, it seems, is not a failure of yield, but a deliberate sowing. Management speaks of an extraordinary outlay – two hundred billion dollars committed to the earth, a vast irrigation project for future growth. Artificial intelligence is the promised bloom, and the expenditure, a necessary deepening of the roots. The market, however, views this with a caution bordering on skepticism. It is a familiar dance – the tension between present harvest and the promise of a future, more abundant yield. They see the cost of the tending, not the beauty of the eventual flower.

By the closing of the market, the price had ascended by more than three percent, a figure which, while perhaps insignificant to the detached observer, represents fortunes gained and lost, dreams realized and dashed, for those whose lives are bound to the fate of this singular enterprise.

Rigetti Computing, a name now echoing through the halls of speculative finance, embodies this precarious hope. They fashion themselves as pioneers in this nascent field, building not merely machines, but a potential future. They possess a fabrication facility, a testament to ambition, and a programming language, Quil, born of necessity. They even offer access to their quantum capacity, a cloud-borne offering to those willing to gamble on the unrealized. It is a complete, self-contained ecosystem…a fragile one, perhaps, but complete nonetheless.

Brookfield Corporation (BN 0.02%), Blackstone, and Apollo Global Management. These are the names the financial magazines throw around, the ones that make my head spin. They all seem to be doing quite well, outperforming the S&P 500 for the past five years. Brookfield, specifically, has seen a 106.6% gain. Blackstone, a more modest 85%. And Apollo, a rather exuberant 143% since 2021. It’s enough to make a person consider taking up fruitcake investing.

By the closing bell, ZIM’s stock was up a good 25%, though it briefly threatened to achieve orbit earlier. Thirty-five percent! That’s practically a hostile takeover of good sense! But hey, who am I to judge? I once tried to corner the market on inflatable swords.

It appears the Former Oracle, in his final quarter of overseeing Berkshire Hathaway’s hoard, decided to lighten the load. Not just lighten, mind you, but to positively shed holdings in companies that, until recently, were considered sacred cows. Amazon, Apple, Bank of America… all trimmed, pruned, and, in some cases, rather brutally hacked back. It’s like a gardener deciding, in the autumn of his years, that roses are overrated and he prefers turnips.²

Joshua Dennerlein, a name now momentarily etched against the backdrop of these transactions, has reinstated his ‘buy’ recommendation for S&P Global. A price target of $575 per share—a figure that feels less like a prediction and more like an aspiration, a hopeful reaching towards the sun. It’s a curious thing, this act of assigning value. As if one could truly capture the essence of a company within a single number.