According to CNBC, global semiconductor stocks surged on Monday as the world's largest electronics contract manufacturer, Hon Hai (Foxconn), announced its fourth-quarter revenue hit a record high, indicating that the AI boom driving demand for cutting-edge hardware is still intensifying.
Hon Hai reported fourth-quarter revenue reaching an unprecedented NT$2.13 trillion (approximately $6.39 billion), a year-on-year increase of 15%. This achievement highlights the growing global demand for AI-related products and services.
Hon Hai's revenue performance is impressive.
Hon Hai's fourth-quarter performance broke historical records, becoming the company's highest quarter ever. Hon Hai attributed its robust growth to strong sales in its cloud and networking products division, which includes AI servers supported by top chip manufacturers like Nvidia.
However, not all sectors showed growth. Hon Hai reported a slight decline in sales of computer products and smart consumer electronics (such as iPhones and other smartphones), reflecting a shift in market dynamics towards enterprise-level and AI-related technologies.
The ripple effect in the global semiconductor market.
The impact of Hon Hai's performance rippled through major global semiconductor markets, with chip stocks in Asia, Europe, and the US all experiencing increases (as of January 6 at 11 PM Taipei time).
Asia: The world's largest chip manufacturer, TSMC, hit a historic high, with its stock price closing up nearly 5%. TSMC produces chips for industry giants like AMD and Nvidia. Other Asian chip manufacturers such as South Korea's SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics saw their stock prices rise approximately 10% and 4%, respectively.
Europe: European chip companies also performed strongly. Semiconductor equipment leader ASML saw its stock price soar nearly 6%, while another Dutch company, ASMI, rose more than 5%. German semiconductor company Infineon saw its stock price increase by about 7%, and French company STMicroelectronics' stock listed in Paris rose by 7%.
United States: Nvidia's stock price rose nearly 4%, boosted by Hon Hai's performance. Nvidia supplies GPUs (graphics processing units) for advanced AI models, benefitting from the widespread AI technology boom. Other major US semiconductor companies like AMD, Qualcomm, and Broadcom saw their stock prices rise about 3%.
Microsoft's AI investments further fuel the fire.
Microsoft recently announced plans to invest $80 billion in 2025 to expand data centers equipped with AI workloads, further boosting market optimism for semiconductors.
Microsoft and other tech giants are major customers of Nvidia GPUs. This announcement further propelled the stock prices of chip manufacturers like AMD (Nvidia's closest competitor), with AMD's stock rising about 3% in pre-market trading.
This article highlights the surge in global chip stocks and Hon Hai's record revenue, emphasizing the AI boom, first reported by Chain News ABMedia.