MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 1.6% higher

Asian equities surged on Thursday after strong earnings and forecasts from chip giants Micron and Qualcomm helped alleviate some concerns over the strong AI rally that has pushed world stocks to record highs.

Tech-heavy markets in Japan and South Korea gained sharply after Micron said its customers ‌had committed $22 billion for its memory chips, while Qualcomm anticipates $15 billion in sales from its data centre business by 2029.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 1.6% higher. Nikkei added more than 4% while KOSPI rose 5.5% and Taiwan stocks was 0.9% higher.

It doesn’t take much to ​restore confidence among stock traders, especially when mega themes such as AI are the main driver, said Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at StoneX.

Until the ​wheels truly fall off the global economy, traders will look for any excuse to buy a dip. This week’s excuse was ⁠Micron, he said.

Investor concern that valuations for AI-related companies have become stretched following years of gains has weighed on markets in recent days, leading to volatile sessions.

Analysts ​though remain sceptical of a long sustained rally in AI stocks as those valuation worries linger.

It’s a positive from Micron, said Nick Twidale, chief market strategist at ATFX Global ​in Sydney, who expects a strong move higher on the back of the earnings.

But I’m not sure how long the euphoria will last across the rest of the sector. I think valuation concerns will continue to weigh on sentiment moving forward, he said.

Also aiding sentiment was announcement from SK Hynix on Wednesday of plans to raise up to $29.52 billion through a secondary listing ​on Nasdaq to capitalise on unending investor appetite for AI stocks.

Shares of SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics have powered the KOSPI to record highs through the year, taking ​the year to date gains for the index to 112% and making it the best-performing stock market in the world.