Livewire Live: Vihari Ross on her Alphabet call and what comes next

Alphabet was mispriced because AI expanded rather than destroyed the value of its search and platform assets, while TSMC now offers a similarly attractive combination of growth, pricing power and valuation.

• When Vihari Ross made her call a year earlier, Alphabet traded at a PE of 15, a 20% discount to the S&P 500, despite growing faster than its technology peers.
• Alphabet’s 2Q26 revenue rose 24% year over year to US$119.8 billion, operating margins reached 34%, and Google Search remained the preferred search engine for 78% of users.
• GOOG rallied almost 60% between October 2025 and May 2026, from around US$250 to just under US$400, as investors reassessed Alphabet as a potential AI beneficiary.
• Alphabet’s market capitalisation reached US$4.8 trillion in May, just below Nvidia’s US$5.2 trillion, although it never became the most valuable Magnificent Seven company; Antipodes subsequently exited the position.
• Ross now favours TSMC, whose earnings are growing at 40% annually, AI revenue at 60%, gross margins are 70%, and whose shares trade at a teens multiple despite pricing power and a semiconductor monopoly.

Takeaway: Ross’s Alphabet thesis was largely validated by the re-rating, but Antipodes has taken profits and shifted its attention to TSMC, which she considers undervalued relative to its growth, capabilities and strategic position.