Investing.com– Asian technology and chip stocks rose on Wednesday, largely boosted by renewed optimism around artificial intelligence-driven demand after OpenAI announced a massive infrastructure project in the US
Technology stocks in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea were the best performers, with gains skewed more toward chip makers. TSMC ( TW: ), the world’s largest contract chip maker, jumped over 2% in Taiwanese trade, while the electronics giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (TW:), informally known as Foxconn (SS:), rose 1.1%.
In Japan, chip equipment manufacturer and supplier NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: Advantest Corp. (TYO:) added 3.9%, while Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TYO:) and Renesas Electronics Corp (TYO:) increased by 1.2% and 4.4% respectively.
SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:), which is a key part of the OpenAI project, gained more than 10%.
The South Korean giant of memory chips SK Hynix Inc (KS:) rose 3.2%, while a larger competitor Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KS:) added 0.9%.
OpenAI has announced a new partnership called the Stargate Project with several major tech companies to invest about $500 billion in building America’s AI infrastructure over the next four years.
Softbank’s Masayoshi Son will chair the partnership, while the tech conglomerate will also be financially responsible for the project.
Lead technology partners for the project will include Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:), Nvidia, Hand Holdings (NASDAQ: ), and Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ), OpenAI said.
News of the project boosted global tech and chip stocks, given that it implies a surge in AI-related spending in the coming years. $100 billion has already been invested in the project and potential sites in Texas are being explored.
The project was also announced by US President Donald Trump on Tuesday.
JPMorgan analysts cautioned that while they didn’t see an immediate spike in AI-related capital spending, the project still represented an overall net positive for the chip industry.
