Investing.com– Asian technology and chipmaking stocks rose on Wednesday, fueled largely by renewed optimism over artificial intelligence-fueled demand after OpenAI announced a massive infrastructure project in the U.S.
Tech stocks in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea were the best performers, with gains biased more towards chipmakers. TSMC (TW:2330), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, jumped over 2% in Taiwan trade, while electronics giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (TW:2317), known informally as Foxconn (SS:601138), rose 1.1%.
In Japan, chip equipment maker and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) supplier Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857) added 3.9%, while Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TYO:8035) and Renesas Electronics Corp (TYO:6723) rose 1.2% and 4.4%, respectively.
SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984), which is a key part of the OpenAI project, rallied over 10%.
South Korean memory chip giant SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660) rose 3.2%, while bigger rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KS:005930) added 0.9%.
OpenAI announced a new partnership- called the Stargate Project with several major technology companies to invest about $500 billion in building U.S.-based AI infrastructure over the next four years.
Softbank’s Masayoshi Son will chair the partnership, while the technology conglomerate will also be financially responsible for the project.
Lead technology partners for the project will include Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Nvidia, Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM), and Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL), OpenAI said.
News of the project boosted global tech and chip stocks, given that it entails a sharp increase in AI-related spending in the coming years. The project has already deployed $100 billion, and is scouting potential sites in Texas.
U.S. President Donald Trump also announced the project on Tuesday.
JPMorgan analysts warned that while they did not see an immediate increase in AI-related capital spending, the project still represented an overall net positive for the chip industry.
