(Bloomberg) — Shares linked to Asian chip companies experienced a notable upswing after Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia Corp., took the spotlight at Las Vegas’ CES trade show. Huang introduced exciting new products featuring Nvidia’s Blackwell chips, reigniting optimism about AI’s growth potential.
In Japan, companies providing Nvidia with chipmaking equipment such as Tokyo Electron Ltd., Advantest Corp., Disco Corp., and Lasertec Corp. saw their stocks soar by over 6%. Meanwhile, in Taiwan, Nvidia’s assembly partner, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., enjoyed a rise of up to 4.1%, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. wasn’t far behind, increasing as much as 3.1%.
Adding to the buzz, Huang revealed that Toyota Motor Corp. plans to incorporate Nvidia’s AI technology into its autonomous driving initiatives. This announcement sent Toyota’s shares up by 3.9%, as enthusiasm from morning trades spilled over. The automaker is also gearing up to unveil its cutting-edge Woven City, located near Mt. Fuji, later this year.
During his CES presentation, Huang, after Nvidia shares reached a new peak, introduced new gaming PC graphics cards built on the Blackwell architecture. He also spotlighted new software solutions aimed at advancing companies’ autonomous driving and AI robotics efforts.
Huang’s announcements seemed to turbocharge the already robust momentum in tech stocks, fueled in part by substantial investments flowing into AI infrastructure from both public and private sectors. In a related move, Microsoft Corp. recently disclosed plans to allocate $80 billion towards AI data center development this year, further boosting the sector’s outlook, while Hon Hai posted unexpectedly strong sales in the last quarter.
“There’s a wave of supportive news around AI as we kick off the year,” noted Andrew Jackson, an analyst at Ortus Advisors Pte. He highlighted Japanese makers of semiconductor equipment as particular benefactors in the tech rally, especially those who were significantly offloaded during year-end rebalances that favored momentum-driven investments. “It appears the market for semiconductor production equipment is gaining solid traction,” he added.
Ibiden Co., a Japanese manufacturer of chip substrates for Nvidia, stands to gain significantly from Huang’s strategy to deploy Blackwell on an extensive scale, Jackson observed. The company’s shares spiked as much as 7.7% on Tuesday, marking its best day since November 5th.
–Reporting assistance was provided by Vlad Savov, Kurt Schussler, and Catherine Ngai.
(Note: Toyota’s announcement was incorporated based on Huang’s keynote at the CES.)
