Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company announced a 68% revenue jump in June. Retail traders saw the headline. They bought calls. They will lose money anyway.
The world's largest contract chipmaker posted these numbers ahead of second-quarter earnings. This means the real earnings haven't dropped yet. This means the people who just went long have no idea what they actually bought. They saw a percentage with two digits and a direction that pointed up. That was enough. They clicked buy. Now they wait to find out what TSMC even makes.
Sixty-eight percent sounds massive until you remember percentages are relative. Could be $68 on top of $100. Could be $68 billion on top of $100 billion. The headline doesn't say. Nobody reading it on their lunch break bothered to check. They just know the number went up and numbers that go up are supposed to make them rich. This is called investment strategy in 2026.
TSMC manufactures chips for other companies. They do not sell chips under their own brand. Explaining this to someone who bought shares at market open would require diagrams and possibly puppets. These are the same people who think revenue and profit are the same word. They are not. One pays bills. The other fills headlines that trick morons into opening brokerage apps.
The first-half revenue numbers are also in. They are also good. This will also not matter when the stock moves in whatever direction hurts the most people. Technical analysts already drew lines on charts connecting June revenue to future price targets. The lines mean nothing. The targets mean less. But they look official when you squint.
Someone just mortgaged their Civic to go long on a Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer because a number got bigger.
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