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A week of heavy losses in global semiconductor stocks came to an abrupt halt on Friday as strong quarterly results from U.S. titans Microsoft and Amazon revived confidence in artificial intelligence spending, lifting chipmakers across Asia.
South Korea posted the strongest gains, with the benchmark Kospi index climbing as much as 17.9% to recoup much of its earlier losses. Japan's Nikkei 225 also rose more than 4%, extending the regional advance.
The gains followed a technology-led rally on Wall Street a day earlier, when the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.8%, the S&P 500 gained 1.7% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.2%.
Earlier this week, investors had pulled back from semiconductor stocks amid concerns over stretched AI valuations and intensifying competition from Chinese chipmakers after reports that China had begun mass-producing DUV lithography machines used in chipmaking.
In South Korea, SK Hynix soared more than 30%, Samsung Electronics climbed over 27% and LG Innotek gained more than 21%.
Japan also joined the rebound, with NAND flash maker Kioxia jumping more than 17% after reporting April-June net profit of 842.2 billion yen ($5.3 billion), up from 18.3 billion yen a year earlier on strong AI-driven demand. Advantest gained nearly 14.2%, Lasertec rose more than 13%, and SoftBank Group climbed about 13.6%.
Microsoft powered Wall Street's technology rally on Thursday, with its shares surging 15.5% for their biggest one-day gain since 2008 after the company reported stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings and faster Azure cloud growth.
The results eased concerns that heavy investment in data centers and AI infrastructure was failing to deliver meaningful returns.
The positive sentiment spread across the broader U.S. chip sector, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index climbing about 8.2%, snapping a five-session losing streak with its strongest daily gain in more than a year.
Sandisk surged about 26%, while Micron Technology and Lam Research each gained around 18%. Applied Materials rose nearly 14%, AMD and Intel added about 13%, with Marvell Technology, Broadcom, Nvidia and ASML also finishing higher.
Amazon added to the upbeat mood after the closing bell on Thursday. Its shares jumped more than 9% in extended trading after the company reported second-quarter revenue above expectations and accelerating growth at Amazon Web Services.
Elsewhere on Friday, China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.7%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng traded little changed. In Europe, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index climbed 0.9% to an intraday record high, buoyed by better-than-expected inflation data across the bloc.
Oil prices fell, with Brent crude down 1.8% to $87.7 and $82.1 per barrel as of 8:10 a.m. GMT.
The decline came as diplomatic and military efforts to strengthen security in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, along with signals from Yemen's Houthis that they would not impose new restrictions on international commercial shipping, eased supply concerns.
The group also denied reports that commercial vessels would be charged transit fees through the strategic waterway.
Gold slipped 1% to around $4,060, while silver fell 1.4% to $58.2 per ounce. Platinum and palladium declined 1.4% and 1.6% to $1,630 and $1,280, respectively. Bitcoin edged down 0.5% to $63,870, while ethereum lost 1% to $1,890.
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