Nvidia earnings beat, Asian chips stocks, tech

Asia-Pacific markets rose Thursday as investors digested Nvidia‘s latest quarterly beat — released after the closing bell stateside — which appeared to restore confidence in major technology stocks.

Shares of the chip giant jumped more than 4% in extended trading after its fiscal third-quarter earnings beat earnings and revenue expectations. The AI chip darling also gave a stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter sales forecast, with CEO Jensen Huang saying demand for its current-generation Blackwell chips is “off the charts.”

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index jumped 3.7% in early trading, while the Topix index added 1.67%.

Chip-related stocks rallied on the index as investors cheered Nvidia’s quarterly report, with tech conglomerate SoftBank skyrocketing as much as 8%, semiconductor equipment maker Tokyo Electron soaring nearly 7%, Lasertec adding 5.6%, and chipmaker Renesas Electron trading 4.8% higher.

South Korea’s Kospi index advanced 2.63%, and the small-cap Kosdaq was up 1.75%. The upbeat investor sentiment also extended to South Korea as index heavyweights, memory chip makers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, added more than 6% and 3.3%, respectively.

Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 rose 1%.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index pointed to a slightly lower open, with the contract trading at 25,820, down from the index’s previous close of 25,830.65.

U.S. equity futures were higher in early Asian hours after Nvidia’s upbeat guidance, which likely lifted investor sentiment around the AI trade, following recent sessions that reflected fears about elevated valuations, debt financing, and potential chip depreciation.

“Nvidia’s numbers remain extremely strong now, but there are inevitably questions whether Huang’s company has already reached its high-water mark in terms of growth and market share,” said David Russell, TradeStation’s global head of market strategy.

Overnight, the S&P 500 gained 0.38% to close at 6,642.16, snapping a four-day losing streak, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.59% to settle at 22,564.23. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 47 points, or 0.1%, to finish at 46,138.77.

— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.