Mobius bets big on chip stocks as US, China increase investments in sector

Veteran emerging-markets investor Mark Mobius said he is betting big on semiconductor shares as the US and China increase investments in the sector.
 

Chipmakers are “the number one category we have in our portfolio,” Mobius said in a Thursday interview on Bloomberg Television. The companies associated with the industry are going to do well as “both the US and China are putting enormous amounts of money in semiconductor research and production,” he added.

Chip stocks have had a great start to 2023 after rising interest rates led to a carnage in 2022. Investor focus has started shifting to the sector’s long-term growth prospects and cheaper valuations. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has risen 20% this year compared to a 4% gain in the S&P 500 Index, on course for its best quarterly outperformance versus the US gauge since Sept. 2016.

Asia is in a prime position to benefit from the sector’s improving outlook as it houses global bellwethers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co., with Mobius adding the outlook remained “good” for China and Indonesia. 

Chip stocks have had a great start to 2023 after rising interest rates led to a carnage in 2022. Investor focus has started shifting to the sector’s long-term growth prospects and cheaper valuations. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has risen 20% this year compared to a 4% gain in the S&P 500 Index, on course for its best quarterly outperformance versus the US gauge since Sept. 2016.

Asia is in a prime position to benefit from the sector’s improving outlook as it houses global bellwethers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co., with Mobius adding the outlook remained “good” for China and Indonesia.