June 26, 2025 (MLN): Chip stocks across Asia climbed on Thursday following a record-breaking rally in Nvidia shares, as investor enthusiasm surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) continues to drive the semiconductor sector higher.

Nvidia’s stock surged more than 4% on Wednesday in the U.S., closing at an all-time high of $154.31 and surpassing its previous record of $149.43 set on January 6.

With a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, Nvidia has now overtaken Microsoft to become the most valuable company in the world.

The rally underscores rising investor confidence in Nvidia’s leadership in AI technologies, even as it faces regulatory hurdles.

The momentum spilled into Asian markets, lifting a broad range of semiconductor stocks. South Korea’s SK Hynix, a key memory chip supplier to Nvidia, gained 3.53%.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which produces Nvidia’s high-performance graphics processing units that power large language models, edged up 0.47%.

Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry, widely known as Foxconn, rose 0.77%.

Foxconn has a strategic partnership with Nvidia to build “AI factories” integrating Nvidia chips into applications ranging from electric vehicles to advanced AI models.

In Japan, the surge was more pronounced. Advantest, a supplier of semiconductor testing equipment, jumped 3.93% to hit a record high, as CNBC reported.

Technology conglomerate SoftBank, which holds a stake in British chip designer Arm, climbed 4.38%.

Tokyo Electron and Lasertec rose 2.13% and 1.57%, respectively, while Renesas Electronics advanced 2.22%.

Kingsley Jones, founding partner and CIO of advisory firm Jevons Global, noted that the rebound in Asian chip stocks reflects investor confidence in the sustained expansion of AI-related demand.

“The tariff fears appear to have abated and so Japanese, South Korean and Taiwanese names are back on the menu,” Jones told CNBC, attributing the renewed optimism in part to Nvidia’s rally.

The upbeat sentiment comes despite recent setbacks for Nvidia.

In April, the Trump administration introduced new restrictions blocking sales of its H20 AI chip to China.

Nvidia said the new rules would result in an $8 billion revenue hit and a $4.5bn inventory write-down.

Nonetheless, the stock’s upward trajectory underscores Nvidia’s perceived resilience and critical role in the ongoing AI boom, propelling a broader rally across the global semiconductor landscape.

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