The motto of veteran US investor Warren Buffett is supposed to be “hold for the long term”, not “hello, I must be going”. But his company Berkshire Hathaway has slashed its stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company hard and fast. That bearish signal is compounded by the weak outlook for chips.

Berkshire has cut its holding in the world’s largest contract chipmaker by 86 per cent to 8.3mn American depositary shares, according to a filing. It announced the purchase of more than $4.1bn worth of the stock of the Taiwanese company just three months ago.

The investor may have made a return of a third on the shares, depending on timing and estimated purchase prices. But that hardly compares with longer-term gains on the likes of Apple. Berkshire evidently fears TSMC revisiting the lows of November. Shares had fallen more than 40 per cent from January to trade below 11 times forward earnings — a more than decade low.