Nvidia and OpenAI's $100-billion deal sparks global chip stock rally

Group 1 - Major global semiconductor stocks experienced a rise following Nvidia's announcement of a $100 billion investment in OpenAI, which involves building systems requiring 10 gigawatts of power, equivalent to 4 million to 5 million GPUs [1] - The positive sentiment from Nvidia's deal led to a rally on Wall Street, particularly benefiting companies linked to Nvidia, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which saw a 3.5% increase in shares [2] - In South Korea, SK Hynix's shares rose over 2.5%, while Samsung's shares increased by 1.4%, with market expectations that Samsung will soon supply Nvidia with high-bandwidth memory chips [3] Group 2 - The rally in semiconductor stocks in Asia extended to Europe, where companies like STMicro, Infineon, and BE Semiconductor saw gains in early trading [4] - However, ASM International projected its fourth-quarter revenue to fall below expectations, negatively impacting its shares and dragging down other chip equipment firms like ASML [5] - The strengthening AI ecosystem in Europe is expected to benefit equipment manufacturers, including ASML and ASMI, due to solid demand from TSMC, the manufacturer of Nvidia's advanced chips [6]