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Asian tech stocks rose in early trading Thursday as Nvidia’s better-than-expected results allayed concerns that momentum in the artificial intelligence sector is cooling.
Shares of South Korean semiconductor giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix soared in early trading.
SK Hynix, a major supplier to Nvidia of high-bandwidth memory used in AI applications, rose more than 2%. Samsung Electronics, Nvidia’s longtime partner, rose about 5%.
“Given the explosive growth in data center demand, this is a positive decision for SK Hynix, Samsung and many other Asian supply chain companies,” said Dan Ives, senior equity research analyst at Wedbush Securities.
Other Korean tech stocks also rose, with parts maker LG Innotek soaring nearly 14% and Seoul Semiconductor soaring 13%.
In Japan, the TOPIX Information and Communication Index rose 2.6%, following a 0.58% rise the previous day.
Software company Trend Micro soared 5.95%. sony group It rose more than 3.86%. Softbank Group Added 5%.
Andrew Jackson, head of Japanese equity strategy at ORTUS Advisors, said he expects the trend toward AI stocks to continue, suggesting upside potential for Japan’s gallium nitride and silicon carbide businesses such as Fuji Electric Co. as investors brace for sustained data center construction. The company’s stock rose 1.7%.
Nvidia reported fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $68.13 billion, up 73% year over year, beating analyst estimates of $66.21 billion. The company currently derives more than 91% of its revenue from its data center division, which is powered by market-leading artificial intelligence chips.
Dan Niles, portfolio manager at Niles Investment Management, said the current structure still prioritizes semiconductor infrastructure names over software, noting that NVIDIA “remains the true king of all of this infrastructure.”
Japanese semiconductor companies Advantest and RenesasHowever, they were 2.35% and 1.75% lower, respectively.
