Nvidia stock was rising early Thursday. The artificial-intelligence chip maker looked to be boosted by the earnings report from its chief supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) and the Trump administration's semiconductor tariff policy.
Nvidia shares were up 1.8% at $186.41 in premarket trading. The stock fell 1.4% on Wednesday.
The chip sector in general was being boosted by consensus-beating earnings from TSMC. The Taiwanese chip manufacturer said it intends capital expenditure of between $52 billion and $56 billion this year, with 10% to 20% of that going toward packaging technology to ease the industry bottleneck affecting the supply of completed chip systems for companies such as Nvidia.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed two executive orders to impose tariffs on some semiconductors. An import duty of 25% will be applied to chips imported to the U.S. that aren't used domestically for AI purposes but are then exported to another country. That will allow for sales of Nvidia's H200 chips to China.
"We applaud President Trump's decision to allow America's chip industry to compete to support high paying jobs and manufacturing in America. Offering H200 to approved commercial customers, vetted by the Department of Commerce, strikes a thoughtful balance that is great for America," an Nvidia spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
However, Chinese customs authorities have told their agents that H200 chips are not permitted to enter China and government officials have instructed domestic companies not to buy the hardware unless necessary, Reuters reported previously, citing people briefed on the matter.
Among other chip makers, Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom gained 3% in premarket trading. AMD also hopes to sell chips to Chinese customers, while Broadcom works with China's ByteDance on custom AI chips.
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