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TSMC (TW:2330) (NYSE:TSM), Asia’s largest chipmaker and a key supplier to Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), rose 1.8%, while South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660), which supplies Nvidia with memory chips, rallied nearly 6%.
Japanese chip equipment maker Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857) added over 2%, while memory chips giant Samsung Electronics (OTC:SSNLF) Co Ltd (KS:005930) rose 1.8%.
Nvidia clocked stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, and also presented a strong revenue outlook on the back of booming interest in AI development. Shares of the chipmaker surged over 9% to a record high in aftermarket trade.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told Reuters that the AI boom will last well into 2024, and that the firm will buy back $25 billion of its shares.
The firm’s optimistic outlook on AI fueled a rally across most technology stocks, with Asian heavyweights Baidu Inc (HK:9888) (NASDAQ:BIDU), Alibaba Group (HK:9988) (NYSE:BABA) and Tencent Holdings (HK:0700) up between 1.5% and 3.4%. Of the three, Baidu was the best performer, after the Chinese search engine also logged strong quarterly earnings on growing AI demand.
AI demand presents a positive scenario for the ailing tech industry, particularly chipmakers, which are grappling with what is seen as a cyclical downturn in the industry. Tech investment also slowed substantially this year amid rising interest rates.
Other major Asian tech stocks also advanced. Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984) rose 1.1%, also benefiting from AI hype as the firm prepares to list its chip designing unit Arm.
Tech-heavy Asian bourses were the best performers among their Asian peers on Thursday, with the Hang Seng and the Taiwan Weighted index up more than 1% each. South Korea’s KOSPI also added 0.8%.
Some cooling in U.S. Treasury yields also aided tech stocks, although yields remained close to multi-decade highs hit this week. Focus is now largely on upcoming signals on U.S. monetary policy from the Jackson Hole Symposium, with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell set to talk on Friday.
