Nvidia’s Asian suppliers cautiously advance as qtrly results loom

Investing.com-- Shares of NVIDIA Corp's (NASDAQ:NVDA) Asian suppliers rose on Tuesday as investors awaited key quarterly earnings from the world’s most valuable chipmaker, as well as any more cues on AI-led demand, particularly in China. 

Japan’s Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857), which supplies chip testing equipment to Nvidia, rose more than 3%, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (TW:2330) (NYSE:TSM), or TSMC, added 1.2% in Taiwan trade.

Japanese chipmaking equipment maker Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TYO:8035) rose 1.1%, while South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660) and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KS:005930) rose 0.8% and 0.4%, respectively. Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984)- which has exposure to Nvidia through its Arm  (NASDAQ:ARM) unit, added 0.9%. 

Nvidia is set to report its September quarter earnings after the U.S. market close on Tuesday. The firm is expected to log earnings per share of $3.36 on a revenue of $16.18 billion, according to Investing.com estimates.

Nvidia has consistently beaten estimates for the past three quarters, with the firm citing a massive boom in demand from artificial intelligence development. The firm develops chips that are specifically used to develop and power AI platforms, which have high computing requirements. 

Strong results from Nvidia have consistently triggered a rally in Asian chipmakers, and were also a driving force behind a stellar rally in Japanese stocks this year.

Nvidia recently unveiled a new flagship chip for AI development- the H200. Shares of the firm hit a record high on Monday, in anticipation of its results. 

Focus will be primarily on Nvidia’s outlook for chip demand, given that the firm has largely ducked a broader downturn in the semiconductor industry thanks to AI. 

While other chipmakers- such as TSMC and SK Hynix- have warned that the AI boom will not be sufficient to offset a broader industry downturn, Nvidia has offered a largely optimistic outlook for the industry. 

China outlook in focus after US export ban

Nvidia’s comments on its Chinese market will be in particular focus on Tuesday, given that recent U.S. curbs on tech exports to China threaten to potentially block off a major market for the firm. 

The White House had earlier this year ordered a ban on the export of any major AI-related technology to China, a bulk of which consists of Nvidia’s chips. The ban was enforced in the prior quarter, with its effects already beginning to show among Chinese firms. 

Recently, Chinese tech giants Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) and Tencent Holdings Ltd (HK:0700) warned that the chip export ban threatened to disrupt their businesses. Tencent said it had stockpiled Nvidia chips, but was now seeking new sources.