As Taiwan stocks plunge, this asset manager reveals how to play the tech-heavy market

Published Wed, May 12 20219:47 AM EDTUpdated Thu, May 13 20214:14 AM EDT

With Taiwan's benchmark stock index plunging on Wednesday, one regional stock expert has given her tips on how to select the right investments in the country's technology sector. Taiwan's market plummeted more than 8% at one point on Wednesday as investors reacted to new coronavirus restrictions and a wider sell-off in global tech stocks. TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company), the largest chipmaker on the planet, has seen its New York-listed share price dip to $112 this week, after being at more than $140 in February. These semiconductor firms have seen their valuations soar as the world grapples with a global chip shortage . Jian Shi Cortesi, an investment director at asset manager GAM, believes it might be time to look beyond the large Taiwanese semiconductor companies. Here's her top advice on the Taiwanese market: Cortesi thinks investors should pay attention to different types of hardware companies when it comes to Taiwan. "There are still some other companies in the hardware space we believe that are still attractively valued," she said in a CNBC Pro Talks on Wednesday. She noted that Taiwanese chip stocks are still worth looking at, but said investors needed to ensure they buy into these companies at the right price. "There are a lot of very attractive Taiwanese companies, particularly in the semiconductor sector, but what is important for the investor is to try to buy these stocks at reasonable prices as some of the stocks now are overvalued, you know, starting to become fully valued," she told CNBC's Sri Jegarajah. There's still an investment case for TSMC, which is in the process of trying to ramp up chip production, according to Cortesi. "We have seen TSMC over the last 10-15 years move from a low margin business to really a dominating semiconductor company in the world and having technology leadership and the scale advantage," she said. Cortesi didn't elaborate on which particular hardware stocks are attractively valued, but Taiwan is home to a raft of well-known hardware firms, including laptop makers Acer and Asus . Many Taiwanese companies have benefited from the coronavirus-induced work-from-home trend because of the nation's "importance" in the technology supply chain when it comes to semiconductors and other forms of hardware. "The Taiwan stock market performed very well last year and also this year so far," Cortesi said, adding that valuations for Taiwanese companies have risen in the process. "Now we have investors more concerned about inflation, as well as the tech sell-off in the U.S.," she said. "We have the news about Covid cases starting to rise in Taiwan. So given the previous good performance, the relatively high valuations and the negative news triggering, we have seen a sell-off today."

Sefa Ozel | E+ | Getty Images

With Taiwan's benchmark stock index plunging on Wednesday, one regional stock expert has given her tips on how to select the right investments in the country's technology sector.

Taiwan's market plummeted more than 8% at one point on Wednesday as investors reacted to new coronavirus restrictions and a wider sell-off in global tech stocks.

TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company), the largest chipmaker on the planet, has seen its New York-listed share price dip to $112 this week, after being at more than $140 in February. These semiconductor firms have seen their valuations soar as the world grapples with a global chip shortage.

Jian Shi Cortesi, an investment director at asset manager GAM, believes it might be time to look beyond the large Taiwanese semiconductor companies.

Here's her top advice on the Taiwanese market: