Tokyo: Asian shares and US futures advanced Monday after artificial intelligence stocks recovered some ground lost in last week's sell-offs. Taiwan's Taiex led gains with a 5.6per cent jump, thanks to a rebound in computer chipmaker TSMC, which also surged 5.6per cent.
Regional tech stocks benefited from gains Friday in the US, where AI stocks got some relief from their sell-off earlier in the week on worries that Democratic victories in the midterm elections could slow construction of AI data centres, particularly in Texas. Voters across political parties say they are wary about AI and don't like increases to power bills caused by data centres.
The rest of the US stock market was mixed as investors mulled over what the sweeping victories by Democrats will mean for markets and the broader economy.
Monday trading started strong in Tokyo, where the Nikkei 225 index gained 3.4per cent to 59,411.34.
Chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron gained 6.5per cent, while Advantest, which makes testing equipment, was up 5.1per cent. SoftBank Group's shares fell 2.9% as the company manoeuvred to salvage a $5.4 billion robotics deal with Switzerland's ABB, which Chinese regulators have rejected.
In South Korea, the Kospi advanced 1.5per cent to 5,137.22. Samsung Electronics Corp. gained 2.7per cent, and chipmaker SK Hynix jumped 3.9per cent. Those are relatively modest gains for companies whose share prices have yo-yoed as investors dumped and then snapped up AI-related shares over the past few weeks.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up 0.2per cent to 24,525.58, and the Shanghai Composite index added 0.4per cent to 3,663.91.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1per cent lower to 9,011.50.
On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.3per cent and trimmed its loss for the week to 2.7per cent, which was its worst since US President Donald Trump shook markets in April 2025 with his “Liberation Day” tariffs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.5per cent, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.1per cent.
The relative steadiness halted what had been a worldwide tumble for stocks. Indexes dropped 6per cent in Tokyo and in Seoul following Wall Street's plunge on Thursday.
Friday's biggest lift for the S&P 500 came from Nvidia, the chip company that has become the face of the boom and possible bust of the AI frenzy. Its stock climbed 2.8per cent, coming off drops of 9.3per cent and 3.2per cent.
Nvidia said Sunday it was opening an investigation into reports that CEO Jensen Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort. That followed Huang's acknowledgement that he had been intimate with a business executive whom, according to The New York Times, US intelligence determined was gathering information for Beijing.
Nvidia is a central player in the race to develop artificial intelligence. Its chips power many of the data centres and computing systems used to train and run AI models. Its advanced processors have also been a focus of US export restrictions aimed at limiting China's access to cutting-edge semiconductor technology.