Some Taiwan fund managers and equity analysts have moved to private investment firms during a sharp stock rally, adding to hiring pressure at traditional managers, Bloomberg reported.
Applications for junior positions at some international firms fell by about half in 2026, according to Bloomberg. Still, registered asset-management employment rose from 4,581 at the end of 2025 to 4,729 in September, based on figures Bloomberg cited from the regulator and an industry association. Those figures do not establish how widespread the departures have been.
Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) limits personal trading by fund managers and other specified employees of securities investment trust firms. Once a firm decides to buy a stock for a fund, the covered employees cannot trade that stock or a related derivative until the fund has exited its position.
Bloomberg reported that some private investment firms give employees more freedom to invest their own money and offer profit-sharing arrangements. Those terms give managers an incentive to leave firms where their client-fund work limits their personal trades.
Bloomberg’s Oct. 16 report put the 2026 gain in the Taiwan Stock Exchange Capitalization Weighted Stock Index at 62%. Chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) reported third-quarter revenue of NT$1,494.24 billion, up 50.9% from a year earlier. It forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $52.3 billion to $54.3 billion.
Fund manager Ken Tsai, 40, told Bloomberg he left a large asset manager in July for a private firm in Taipei. He had made an unnamed supplier of AI server data-transfer components his fund’s largest holding in 2024, Bloomberg reported. The supplier’s stock gained about sixfold in 2026 after rising more than fivefold in 2025, Bloomberg reported. Tsai said he owned none of the shares personally.
The FSC told Bloomberg it was gathering information and planned to review the trading rules. TSMC’s financial calendar lists its October monthly sales release for Nov. 10 at 12:30 a.m. ET.
