Asian chip stocks mixed, European peers gain after Nvidia results
Asian chip stocks mixed, European peers gain after Nvidia results
Asian chip stocks were mixed on Thursday after Nvidia’s strong results sent its shares surging in premarket trading, but failed to spark a uniform rally across its Asian supply chain, as investors weighed robust artificial-intelligence demand against higher memory costs, margin pressure and continued uncertainty over China.
Nvidia reported second-quarter revenue of $96.2 billion, up 106% year over year, with Data Center revenue jumping 117% to $89 billion. But the bigger takeaway came from CFO Colette Kress, who said Nvidia expects revenue growth of about 70% in fiscal 2028, well above the 44% average analyst estimate, while CEO Jensen Huang said demand is running well above the 70% level the company can currently supply.
Nvidia shares initially fell 1.6% in regular trading before rising more than 7% premarket by 05:48 ET (09:48 GMT). Investors are still parsing a softer margin outlook as Nvidia faces sharply higher memory costs, while its third-quarter forecast assumes no data-center compute revenue from China.
That has produced a much more selective reaction across Asia. Memory chip makers outperformed while a handful of chip-testing and equipment names weakened.
KOSPI leads as SK Hynix, Samsung gain on Nvidia memory outlook
South Korea’s KOSPI rose 1.5%, with SK Hynix up 2.5% to 1.730 million won and Samsung Electronics up 1.7% to 265,000 won.
The two stocks are among the clearest Asian plays on Nvidia’s AI infrastructure spending. SK Hynix is a major supplier of high-bandwidth memory used in Nvidia’s AI accelerators, while Samsung is also expanding its HBM exposure.
Nvidia’s warning that memory supply remains tight therefore offers a potential benefit to memory suppliers through stronger demand and pricing, even as the same cost pressure weighs on margins in the near-term.
Some of the most direct Nvidia-linked equipment suppliers lagged on Thursday. Advantest fell about 3.1%, Disco pared earlier losses to fall 1.4% and Powertech Technology dropped 3.2%, while TSMC shed only about 0.2%.
Advantest supplies semiconductor testing equipment, TSMC manufactures Nvidia’s GPUs and Disco provides wafer-cutting and grinding equipment, making their reaction an important gauge of confidence in the broader AI hardware cycle.
Nvidia’s margin warning could herald some headwinds for other equipment makers, especially if the company’s top customers push back on higher pricing, a scenario that eventually heralds a cooling in demand.
In Japan, memory chip makerKioxia rose 5%, TDK gained 1.5% and Murata added 1.7%, while Largan climbed almost 10%.
The uneven reaction is not unusual after Nvidia’s results, which have in the past also spurred mixed moves in tech and chipmaking shares despite reading largely upbeat.
China, Hong Kong mixed as Nvidia outlook excludes China; European chip stocks up
China and Hong Kong were also uneven. The Hang Seng fell 0.3%, while the CSI 300 gained 0.9% and the Shanghai Composite rose 1.1%.
Chinese technology stocks were mixed, with Baidu up 5.3%, SMIC gaining 2.3% and Tencent rising 0.5%, while Alibaba fell 0.9%, Xiaomi lost 3.4%, NetEase dropped 1.2% and Meituan declined 0.7%.
Nvidia’s China outlook remains a key complication. Nvidia did not assume any data-center compute revenue from China in its third-quarter forecast, underscoring how export restrictions continue to limit its opportunity in one of the world’s biggest technology markets.
Elsewhere, European chip stocks saw a more positive reaction overall, with ASML gaining 1.6% and Infineon Technologies rising 4%. STMicroelectronics and ASM International added 4.3% and 2.8%, respectively. BE Semiconductor climbed about 2%.
Vahid Karaahmetovic contributed to this report.