30-Second Overview: On April 28, 2026, the total market capitalization of Taiwan's stock market surged to $4.47 trillion, surpassing Canada to become the world's 6th largest stock market; earlier in the mid-month, it had already surpassed the UK. The driving force behind this is TSMC—valued at $1.8 trillion, with a weight of nearly 45% in the weighted index. Thirty-six years ago, the 10,000-point crash that wiped out the accounts of 4.6 million people, and the Hong Yuan Institution that trapped 160,000 people with a monthly interest rate of 4%, have not yet dried up in the financial memory of this island. From over ten listed companies in the year the Securities and Futures Exchange was established to 13.93 million accounts sharing a global No. 6 capital market today, Taiwan took sixty-four years. But this No. 6 ranking has a structural paradox: remove TSMC, and the remaining 1,000+ stocks combined would barely squeeze into the global No. 15 spot.
2026-04-28, New York Bloomberg Terminal
It was midnight Taipei time on April 28, 2026. The Bloomberg Terminal flashed a headline: "Taiwan Overtakes Canada as World's Sixth-Largest Stock Market" 1.
The numbers were calm: Taiwan's total listed company market cap was $4.47 trillion, Canada's was $4.44 trillion. With a gap of less than 1%, Taiwan officially pushed out this G7 nation 2.
A few hours later, a taxi driver on Xinyi Road in Taipei switched the radio to a financial station, where the host was reading another record broken this year: In April alone, the weighted index rose by 7,200 points, a gain of 22.7% 3. Intraday, it touched 40,194.92 points on the morning of April 27, breaking the 40,000-point barrier for the first time in history 4.
The driver didn't look up. He just said one thing: "TSMC can hit 2,500 this time."
He didn't know what headline Bloomberg flashed, nor did he need to know—for him, the stock market行情 (trend) of this island was condensed into the numbers of a single stock.
And his intuition matched the conclusion of analysts worldwide holding Bloomberg terminals.
Firecrackers, the Stock Exchange, and the Retirement Funds of 160,000 People
To understand the red line of April 2026, we must first return to the black line of February 1990.
On February 12, 1990, Taiwan's weighted stock price index surged to 12,682 points, the highest in history. People set off firecrackers outside the Securities and Futures Exchange 5. At that time, there were approximately 4.6 million active trading accounts across Taiwan, with almost every family having someone buying stocks. Retail trading volume accounted for 90% 6. Taxi drivers discussed "insider tips" (mingpai), vegetable market aunties placed orders via hotline phones, and civil servants secretly watched scrolling LED boards in the office.
Eight months later, the index fell to 2,485 points. It lost 80% 7.
📝 Curator's Note
The phrase "Taiwanese money floods to the ankles" originated in this era. Too much money, too few places to go; the stock market and real estate became two reservoirs without floodgates.
To make matters worse was the Hong Yuan Institution. This underground investment company began absorbing private funds with a monthly interest rate of 4% (monthly return rate of 4%) starting in 1981. At its peak, its absorption scale reached NT$94 billion. On January 9, 1990, Hong Yuan announced the cessation of withdrawals, leaving over 160,000 creditors bloodless overnight—most of whom had bet their retirement funds and life savings on it, particularly military, civil, and teaching personnel 8.
⚠️ Controversial Viewpoint
Hong Yuan's leader Shen Chang-sheng was sentenced to seven years in prison, plus a fine of three million. He was released on parole in 1994 9. "Sixteen thousand people's retirement funds exchanged for seven years in prison" is the most painful scar in Taiwan's financial regulatory history. Even until Shen Chang-sheng died suddenly in Xiamen in 2022, outsiders still suspected where the money for his luxurious life after release came from 10.
The aftermath of this double blow lasted for a full decade. In the 1990s, "stocks" were a dirty word in many Taiwanese families. Parents warned their children: Don't touch stocks; that's gambling.
Foreign Capital, ETFs, and the Gravity Field of TSMC
Taiwan's stock market in the new century was rewritten by three things.
The first is foreign capital. In the early 1990s, foreign capital holdings were less than 5%. In the 2000s, the government relaxed restrictions and introduced the QFII system, causing it to rise gradually. Institutional investors replaced retail investors as the main force, shifting the trading logic from "listening to insider tips" to "reading financial reports" 6.
The second is ETFs. In June 2003, Yuan Taiwan Asset Management issued 0050 (Yuan Taiwan 50), Taiwan's first ETF. It did something simple: allowing people who don't understand individual stocks to participate in the overall growth of Taiwan's top 50 companies. Twenty years later, the number of beneficiaries for 0050 exceeded 2.74 million. Combined with the later high-dividend groups, ETFs have become the default option for household financial management in Taiwan 11.
The third, larger than the previous two combined—TSMC.
When discussing Taiwan's stock market in 2026, one cannot discuss Taiwan Enterprises: TSMC. The Taiwan stock market is like the solar system, and TSMC is the sun. As of March 10, 2026, TSMC's weight in the weighted index reached 45.0041% 12. When the stock price is around 2,265 NTD, for every one yuan this individual stock moves, the broader market index moves by approximately 8 points 12.
Describing this proportion as an "important component stock" is severely inaccurate. It has become the market itself.
The New Year's Red Packet of January 5, 2026
On January 5, 2026, the second trading day of the Year of the Horse. The weighted index gapped up in the early session, touching 30,339.32 points intraday and closing at 30,105.04 points, officially entering the 30,000-point era 13. On that day, TSMC rose 5.36%, touching 1,695 NTD intraday. This single stock contributed approximately 680 points to the broader market. In two days, Taiwan's stock market capitalization increased by NT$3.7 trillion, with an average paper profit of NT$268,000 per investor 13.
Behind this 30,000-point figure lies a compressed timeline: After the 10,000-point bubble in 1990, it took nearly thirty years for Taiwan's stock market to stand above 10,000 points again; it took seven years to go from 10,000 to 20,000 points; from 20,000 to 30,000 points, it only took two years.
✦ "That 10,000-point thirty years ago was a bubble piled up by 4.6 million accounts buying and selling. Thirty-six years later, this 30,000-point peak is supported by 13.93 million accounts sitting on ETFs, plus one stock, TSMC, holding up the sky. The index is still numbers, but the capital structure is completely different."
By April 2026, that momentum had not yet ended.
April's 22.7% Monthly Surge
April was a subversive month for Taiwan's stock market.
Around April 15, Taiwan's total market capitalization surged to $4.14 trillion, surpassing the UK ($3.99 trillion) and squeezing into the world's 7th largest stock market 14.同期 (同期), South Korea's KOSPI also surpassed the UK with $4.04 trillion, rising to 8th place—within a month, two East Asian semiconductor economies simultaneously crossed a G7老牌 (old-established) market 15.
On April 24, the Financial Supervisory Commission officially approved the "TSMC Clause": the limit on fund holdings of a single stock was relaxed from 10% to 25%. The next day, TSMC's stock price gapped up to break new highs 16.
At 9:25 AM on April 27, the weighted index jumped to 40,194.92 points, touching 40,000 for the first time in history. Although it gave back gains at the end of the day, closing at 39,616.63 points, the trading value surged to NT$1.18 trillion 4. Moore Advisory analyst Adam Lin told Taipei Times: "TSMC was the major driver of the Taiex's gains today." He added that he is not worried about holding steady: "I expect TSMC will continue to move higher on its sound fundamentals." (Quote from Taipei Times 2026-04-28).
The day after the 40,000-point mark (April 28), Taiwan's total market capitalization rose to $4.47 trillion, surpassing Canada ($4.44 trillion) and leaping to the world's 6th largest 1. Throughout April, the weighted index accumulated a gain of 22.7%, rising 7,200 points for the month—one of the most violent monthly trends in Taiwan stock market history 3.
| Top 9 Global Stock Markets (Closing 2026-04-28) 2 | Market Cap (Trillion USD) |
|---|---|
| United States | 75.04 |
| China | 14.84 |
| Japan | 8.19 |
| Hong Kong | 7.41 |
| India | 4.97 |
| Taiwan | 4.47 |
| Canada | 4.44 |
| South Korea | 4.04 |
| United Kingdom | 3.99 |
There is a detail worth pausing to look at in this list: The top five are traditional financial heavyweight economies. Taiwan ranks 6th, followed by two members of the G7. An island with an area 300 times smaller than Canada and a population 40% smaller than the UK has surpassed them on the scale of the capital market.
J.P. Morgan Asset Management's outlook for Taiwan's stock market in 2026 is straightforward: "The AI arms race drives capital expenditure, boosting Taiwan's exports and strong semiconductor growth," "Taiwan stocks have risen more than 90% in the past 3 years," "The P/E ratio has risen from 12.4x to 17.7x," "Tech stocks account for 70%-75% of Taiwan stock market capitalization" 17.
Then it writes a very restrained sentence: "Industrial concentration and valuation increases may add volatility; active stock selection ability is the key."
The meaning of this sentence can only be understood in the next section.
The 44% Watermelon Effect
On April 28, 2026, Taiwan's stock market capitalization was $4.47 trillion, TSMC's market cap was $1.8 trillion, and the TAIEX weight was close to 45% 118.
Translating this proportion into a more concrete image: Over 1,000 listed companies, the number one player eats 45% alone; the remaining 1,000+ companies combined split the remaining 55%.
📝 Curator's Note
A scholar described to the media in April 2026: "TSMC is like a big watermelon, sucking up all the nutrients from other watermelons." (Retold from Wan De Fu 2026-04-25). This metaphor has a formal name in finance called "Dutch Disease" (Dutch Disease): A single industry becomes overly prosperous, sucking talent, capital, and land from the entire economy, eventually pushing traditional industries and service sectors to the margins 19. The brighter the AI dividend for Taiwan, the more locked-in this structure becomes.
This 45% sits alongside other numbers.
Goldman Sachs Securities released its "2026 Investment Outlook: 10 Key Investment Trends" report in January 2026, led by Zhang Bokai, Head of Greater China Technology Industry Research. It locked in 25 buy-list stocks for Taiwan's stock market: TSMC (2330), ASE Technology Holding (3711), Foxconn (2317), Wistron (3231), Inventec (6669), Chicony (3017), Delta Electronics (2308), Everlight Electronics (2383), Largan Precision (3008), Chuanhu (2059), Qtech (8210), Shenda (3706), Sunon (3376), Taiding (6274), Golden Century Electronics (2368), Nan Ya Printed Circuit (8046), etc. 20.
The investment theme of the entire list is very consistent: Semiconductors, AI servers, optical transceiver modules, thermal management modules, ODM factories, PCs, smartphones, PCBs, L4 autonomous vehicles, low-orbit satellites 20. Not a single financial stock, not a single consumer stock, not a single traditional industry leader.
In other words, when Goldman Sachs strategists look at Taiwan's $4.47 trillion market cap and ask "how to bet next," their answer is: Bet on the same horse again.
The report card for active ETFs also points in the same direction. As of April 29, Nomura Hongyun Fund YTD return was 89.58%, Yuan Duoduo 77.56%, Uni-President Black Horse 75.30%, Franklin Templeton First Rich 75.09%—all doubled their performance over the broader market's 36.45% 21. The commonality among these funds is: Betting on AI semiconductors, betting on thermal management, betting on power supplies, betting on high-speed transmission.
Throughout April, foreign capital's net buying of Taiwan stocks exceeded $8.9 billion for the month at one point; on April 21, the single-day net buying was NT$60.153 billion, the 7th largest in history 22. Money flows into this island from all over the world, then amplifies into the broader market red line through TSMC's single stock.
The most efficient time is also the most fragile time.
13.93 Million Accounts and One ETF
By the end of February 2026, the cumulative number of Taiwan stock market accounts reached 13.93 million, an increase of about 80,000 from January, setting a new historical record 23. On an island with a total population of 23.4 million, nearly 60% of people have securities accounts.
What is more worth pausing to look at is the structure: Investors under 30 account for about 60% of new accounts; the 20-30 age group exceeds 1.7 million people. Day trading, fractional shares, regular investment plans, and ETF subscriptions are the daily tools of this generation; they are unlikely to know the term "scrolling LED board."
From the 1990s "stocks are gambling" to the 2020s "not investing is the risk," Taiwan society's attitude toward the capital market took thirty years to flip.
| 1990 | 2026 |
|---|---|
| 4.6 Million Active Accounts | 13.93 Million Cumulative Accounts |
| Retail Investors Account for 90% of Volume | Institutional + ETFs Continue to Grow |
| Hotline Phone Orders, Scrolling LED Boards | Smartphone Swiping, Regular Investment Plans |
| Hong Yuan Absorbing Funds at 4% Monthly Interest | 0050 with 5-8% Annualized Returns |
| One Company's Collapse Ruins 160,000 People | One Stock Determines the Broader Market Position |
The left side of this table is traumatic memory; the right side is the AI dividend. Separating them are thirty-six years—but the line in between did not climb straight up.
The Same Index, Two Perspectives
On February 9, 1962, the Stock Exchange opened, with only over ten listed companies in the first batch 24. Sixty-four years later, on April 28, 2026, the weighted index was close to 40,000 points, and total market capitalization rose to the world's 6th largest.
Writing these sixty-four years into a press release is glamorous: From the industrial era's cement, paper, agriculture/forestry, and mining, to the knowledge economy era's wafer foundries, AI thermal management, and optical communications. Taiwan's capital market took a generation to grow from a rural grocery store into the world's 6th largest stock exchange.
But this No. 6 ranking in 2026 has a structural paradox.
Of Taiwan's $4.47 trillion market cap, TSMC eats nearly 45% alone. If you remove TSMC from the weighted index, the remaining 1,000+ stocks total approximately $2.67 trillion—likely dropping to around the world's 10th largest, at the same level as Saudi Arabia. In the world of capital markets, the identity of "World's 6th Largest" has a thinner relationship with "an island" than imagined.
✦ "On April 28, 2026, the New York Bloomberg Terminal flashed 'Taiwan Overtakes Canada.' On the same night, a taxi driver in Taipei waited for the next financial segment on the radio. He didn't care which G7 country Taiwan surpassed; he cared about whether TSMC would close at 2,300 tomorrow. Bloomberg's headline wrote 'A Victory for an Island'; the driver cared about 'The Status of One Stock.' Two perspectives on the same thing—and the latter may be closer to the truth than the former."
The 1990 10,000-point crash destroyed a generation's trust in the stock market. The 2026 bull market, which ascended to 40,000 points and pushed out Canada, rebuilt the trust of the same group of people—only this time, the object of trust changed from "the insider tip I picked myself" to "TSMC that the whole world is buying."
The peak where 13.93 million accounts stand together has a foundation that is 45% the same rock. The rock is hard, but there is only one piece of it.
What will Taiwan's capital market learn in the next thirty years? Ask your neighbor who bought the dip three times in 1990—he will probably tell you: The most dangerous time for the market is precisely when everyone feels it won't fall.
Further Reading
- [Taiwan Enterprises: TSMC](/economy/Taiwan Enterprises: TSMC) — The sun accounting for 45% of Taiwan's stock weight, and the story behind the term "National God Mountain"
- [Semiconductor Industry](/technology/Semiconductor Industry) — The entire supply chain ecosystem supporting Taiwan's stock market's No. 6 status
- [Taiwan Enterprises: Foxconn Precision](/economy/Taiwan Enterprises: Foxconn Precision) — Another heavyweight in Goldman Sachs' 25-stock buy list, transforming from a contract manufacturing giant to an AI server player
- [Taiwan Industrial Transformation and Upgrading](/economy/Taiwan Industrial Transformation and Upgrading) — The trajectory from 1980s contract manufacturing to the 2026 AI dividend
- [Taiwan Economic Miracle](/history/Taiwan Economic Miracle) — The money from the "Taiwanese money floods to the ankles" era ultimately flowed into the 1990 stock market and Hong Yuan
- [Taiwan FinTech Development](/economy/Taiwan FinTech Development) — From hotline phones to smartphone regular investment plans, the financial infrastructure behind an account
References
- Taiwan Overtakes Canada as World's Sixth-Largest Stock Market — Bloomberg via TaiwanPlus — Bloomberg reported on 2026-04-29 that Taiwan's stock market closed on April 28 with a total market cap of $4.47 trillion, surpassing Canada. TaiwanPlus simultaneously reprinted it, supplementing the AI momentum background.↩
- Taiwan Stock Market Surpasses Canada to Rank 6th Globally — BigGo Finance — Lists the complete ranking of the top 9 global stock market capitalizations as of 2026-04-28 (US 75.04 / China 14.84 / Japan 8.19 / HK 7.41 / India 4.97 / Taiwan 4.47 / Canada 4.44 / Korea 4.04 / UK 3.99 trillion USD) and compares Taiwan YTD +35% / Canada +5%.↩
- Taiwan Stocks Test 40,000 Points in Historic Surge — BigGo Finance — Taiwan's stock market rose 7,200 points in April 2026, a gain of 22.7%, a historical monthly trend, analyzing Dutch Disease risks and excessive capital concentration phenomena.↩
- TAIEX briefly tops 40,000 for first time — Taipei Times — On 2026-04-27, the weighted index hit a high of 40,194.92 points intraday, closed at 39,616.63 points, with a trading value of NT$1.18 trillion; analyst Adam Lin's verbatim English quotes on the TSMC bullish view.↩
- Wikipedia: Taiwan Bubble Economy — Complete process record of the weighted index reaching a historic high of 12,682 points on 1990-02-12 and falling to 2,485 points within eight months of the same year.↩
- TechNews: Taiwan Stocks 60 Years, From Institutional Main Force Era to Universal Participation — Record of the market structure shift in the 1990s where retail trading volume accounted for 90%, and foreign capital gradually replaced retail investors as the main force.↩
- Time Newspaper: Stock Market Changes! 1990 Stock Index Changed from 12,000 to 2,000 — United Daily News historical image library records the eight months from 1990 when the weighted index fell from 12,682 points to 2,485 points, including photos of retail investor mentality and market sentiment at the time.↩
- The News Lens: Taiwan's Largest Fraud Group in History, "Hong Yuan Institution" — Review of Hong Yuan absorbing nearly 100 billion with 4% monthly interest, collapsing on 1990-01-09, causing 160,000 people to be victims (mostly military, civil, and teaching personnel).↩
- Wikipedia: Hong Yuan Case — Judgment record of Hong Yuan leader Shen Chang-sheng being sentenced to seven years in prison plus a three million fine, released on parole in 1994.↩
- Business Today: "Hong Yuan" Leader Shen Chang-sheng Dies Suddenly / 4% Interest Absorbed Nearly 100 Billion, Harmed 160,000 Civil Servants — Follow-up report on Shen Chang-sheng dying suddenly in Xiamen in 2022, reviewing the scale of the Hong Yuan case and the fate of the three responsible persons.↩
- StockFeel: 0050 Yuan Taiwan 50 ETF — 0050 was issued in June 2003 as Taiwan's first ETF, assets approaching NT$1.4 trillion, beneficiary count exceeding 2.74 million, detailed history.↩
- HiStock Hi Investment: Weighted Index Component Stocks and Market Cap Proportion — Taiwan Stock Exchange official weighted index component stock weights, showing TSMC at 45.0041% as of 2026-03-10, and the calculation basis for TSMC stock price movement of one yuan affecting the broader market index by approximately 7.97 points.↩
- Cnyes: Strongest New Year's Red Packet in History! Taiwan Stocks Write Five Records, Enter 30,000 Point Era — Detailed data for 2026-01-05: Weighted index closed at 30,105.04 points, TSMC rose 5.36% to 1,670 NTD, single-day trading value 800.793 billion.↩
- Liberty Times Finance: Taiwan Stock Market Capitalization Surpasses UK, Becomes World's 7th Largest Stock Market — Timeline record of Taiwan's stock market capitalization reaching $4.14 trillion in mid-April 2026, surpassing the UK ($3.99 trillion), squeezing into the world's 7th largest stock market.↩
- Liberty Times Finance: Korean Stock Market Capitalization Ranks 8th Globally, Overtakes UK — Comparison record of South Korea's KOSPI market cap reaching $4.04 trillion, surpassing the UK to rise to 8th place globally, YTD gain +45% in the same period.↩
- Fengyun Academy: Financial Supervisory Commission Major Relaxation, "TSMC Clause" Officially Approved — Policy explanation of the Financial Supervisory Commission relaxing the limit on fund holdings of a single stock from 10% to 25% in April 2026, with TSMC as the main beneficiary.↩
- J.P. Morgan Asset Management: Taiwan Stock Market 2026 Bull Market Continues Key — J.P. Morgan 2026 Taiwan stock market outlook: P/E ratio rises from 12.4x to 17.7x, tech stocks account for 70-75%, estimated profit growth nearly 20% YoY, warning of industrial concentration volatility risks.↩
- World Journal: World's 6th Largest, Taiwan Stock Market Capitalization Surpasses UK Then Catches Up to Canada — Bloomberg data citation for TSMC market cap of $1.8 trillion, accounting for "close to 45%" of the weighted index weight, including the top 9 global market ranking table.↩
- CommonWealth Magazine: What is Dutch Disease? Could Taiwan Catch "Dutch Disease"? — Analysis of the Dutch Disease economic concept, discussion of the risk of single industry prosperity in Taiwan's electronics industry sucking talent and capital.↩
- Economic Daily: Investors Look Here! 2026 Layout Goldman Sachs Calls to Buy These 25 Stocks — Goldman Sachs 2026-01-05 "2026 Investment Outlook" report, led by Greater China Technology Industry Research Head Zhang Bokai calling to buy 25 Taiwan stocks, including TSMC / Foxconn / Wistron / Inventec / Chicony / Delta Electronics etc. AI semiconductor supply chain stocks.↩
- United Daily News Online: Taiwan Stocks Leap to World's 6th Largest, AI Dividend Works, Active Taiwan Stock Funds Double Performance Over Broader Market — Lipper statistics as of 2026-04-29, Nomura Hongyun 89.58% / Yuan Duoduo 77.56% / Uni-President Black Horse 75.30% / Franklin Templeton First Rich 75.09% YTD returns, compared to the weighted index 36.45%.↩
- Cnyes: Foreign Capital Adds 55.7 Billion to Assist 37,000 — Record of foreign capital momentum in April 2026: Net buying of Taiwan stocks exceeded $8.9 billion for the month at one point; single-day net buying on 4-21 was NT$60.153 billion (7th largest in history).↩
- CNA: Taiwan Stock Market February Account Count Increases by 80,000 Month-on-Month to 13.93 Million, Setting New High Again — Cumulative Taiwan stock market accounts reached 13,939,987 by the end of February 2026, an increase of 80,800 from January, setting a new record consecutively.↩
- TWSE Taiwan Stock Exchange: Historical Introduction — Taiwan Stock Exchange established on 1961-10-23, officially opened on 1962-02-09, official history of the first chairman Koo Chen-fu.↩