Taiwan Bans DeepSeek AI Over Security Concerns, Joins Global Scrutiny of Chinese Tech

On Friday, Taiwan’s digital ministry urged government departments to abstain from using Chinese startup DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence (AI) service citing security concerns. It also reinforced its allegiance to the U.S.

Taiwan, home to contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co TSM, has long been skeptical of Chinese tech given Beijing’s sovereignty claims over the island, Reuters reports.

France, Italy, Ireland, and other country regulators have also been investigating DeepSeek’s use of personal data.

Also Read: Taiwan Semiconductor Halts Shipments After Huawei Link Discovered, US Sanctions Cited

U.S. is currently probing the Chinese AI startup for violation of the U.S. artificial intelligence technology embargo against China by gaining access to Nvidia Corp NVDA chips.

By Monday, DeepSeek’s free AI assistant had overtaken U.S. rival ChatGPT in downloads from Apple Inc’s AAPL app store, wiping $593 billion off chipmaker Nvidia’s market value.

Also this week, Taiwan pledged support for Taiwan Semiconductor as U.S. President Donald Trump threatened chip tariffs against countries including Taiwan.

The Taiwan government maintained that the semiconductor business between Taiwan and the U.S. was a mutually beneficial model for both sides, given the high level of interconnectivity.

Meanwhile, Taiwan Semiconductor’s total U.S. investment now stands at $65 billion. The company also joined the U.S. in restricting access to its sophisticated AI technology in China.

TSM Stock Prediction For 2025

Equity research can be a valuable source of information for learning about a company's fundamentals. Analysts create financial models based on the fundamentals and expected future earnings of a company to arrive at a price target and recommendation for the stock.

Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor have an average 1-year price target of $240.0, representing an expected upside of 12.77%.

Because of differences in assumptions, analysts can arrive at very different price targets and recommendations. No analysts have bearish recommendations on Taiwan Semiconductor, while 3 analysts have bullish ratings. The street high price target from Barclays is $255.0, while the street low from Needham is $225.0.

Price Action: TSM stock traded higher by 1.60% to $211.48 at the last check on Friday.

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