Why Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Is Falling Today

Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM) were falling 4% in morning trading Monday at 10:37 a.m. on no company-specific news, but the stock has been on a tear so far this year, up 22% year to date. In a notable mention last week, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO Tim Cook told analysts during the tech giant's fiscal first quarter earnings conference call that the company was "all in" on being Taiwan Semiconductor's largest customer at its new Arizona facilities. Although Taiwan Semiconductor has been able to sidestep many of the supply chain snags that have embroiled other leading chipmakers, its own latest earnings report had the world's leading pure-play foundry saying weakening consumer demand could result in first-quarter revenue dropping as much as 5%, leading to cuts in this year's capital expenditures compared to a year ago.