Asia stocks cast off AI bubble jitters as Nvidia fuels tech comeback

• South Korea, Taiwan stocks up over 3%
• Indonesia stocks hit record high
• Thailand stocks up 1.5%

By Roshan Thomas

Nov 20 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks bounced back and South Korean shares reclaimed the key 4,000 level on Thursday, after chip titan Nvidia's encouraging results eased worries about a likely AI bubble that had recently gripped global markets.

The MSCI index of emerging Asia equities .MIMS00000PUS and a broader gauge of Asian shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS each gained nearly 1.3%, while the MSCI ASEAN index .MISU00000PUS gained 0.3%.

Overnight, AI-darling Nvidia NVDA.O projected quarterly revenue far above Wall Street forecasts, with CEO Jensen Huang highlighting surging demand for its AI chips from major cloud providers and brushing aside concerns about an AI bubble.

That helped lift sentiment across Asian equities in a week of turbulence where investors questioned the sustainability of the AI rally and punished tech-heavy markets in South Korea and Taiwan, which slid more than 3% and 2% in the last two days, respectively.

South Korea’s KOSPI .KS11, one of the region’s top performers this year, climbed 3.3%. The benchmark is now up 69% for 2025.

Adding to the improved sentiment, sources said U.S. officials have privately indicated they may delay imposing long-flagged semiconductor tariffs.

Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics 005930.KS gained 6.5%, while peer SK Hynix 000660.KS advanced 6.2%.

Taiwan stocks .TWII also rose 3.4%, snapping a two-session losing streak, with shares of TSMC 2330.TW, the world’s largest maker of advanced chips, climbing 4.7%.

Other regional markets also traded in the black, with shares in Kuala Lumpur .KLSE and Manila .PSI up 0.3% and 0.7%, respectively, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index .STI gained 0.3%.

Thailand stocks .SETI advanced 1.5%, helped by a 6.3% rise in shares of Airports of Thailand AOT.BK.

Indonesia’s benchmark .JKSE jumped 1% to a record high of 8,491.428 points after the country posted its first current account surplus in 10 quarters for the July-September period.

The surge follows the central bank leaving interest rates unchanged for a second consecutive policy review in the previous session.

Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo said the decision aligned with the central bank’s short-term priority of supporting the rupiah IDR=, which earlier this week hovered near a record low. Excessive volatility in the rupiah could harm trade, investment and inflation. The currency was down 0.2% on the day.

"We see some rupiah resilience but slight weakness towards 16,900 by end-2025. Authorities are aiming for currency stability and may delay rate cuts till next year if this persists," said Jeff Ng, head of Asia macro strategy at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.

Other currencies in the region were subdued against a firm dollar index =USD. The Malaysian ringgit MYR= lost 0.3%, while the Philippine peso PHP= shed 0.2%. The Singapore dollar SGD= and the Thai baht THB=TH were largely unchanged.