AEM, UMS lead chip and tech surge in Singapore as AI trade confidence returns

Singapore chip stocks AEM and UMS Integration led a tech surge on Friday (Jul 31) as confidence returned to the artificial intelligence trade, with AEM rising as much as 12.5% to S$8.52 and UMS adding up to 7.4% to S$2.33, following a Wall Street rally driven by Microsoft's stronger-than-expected forecast. The Straits Times Index fell 0.9% as bank stocks declined.

AEM, UMS lead chip and tech surge in Singapore as AI trade confidence returns The STI still falls, however, weighed down by a drop in bank stocks SINGAPORE Chip stocks in Singapore mirrored global gains as confidence returned to the artificial intelligence trade, with counters such as AEM and UMS Integration being the biggest beneficiaries. AEM , a supplier of Nvidia, Intel and AMD, saw the biggest boost and rose as much as 12.5 per cent to S$8.52 in the first few minutes of trading on Friday Jul 31 . Shares of Applied Materials supplier UMS were the next biggest gainers, adding as much as 7.4 per cent to touch S$2.33. The rebound comes after semiconductor stocks in Singapore slid on Tuesday https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/telcos-media-tech/singapore-tech-stocks-slide-chip-sell-spreads-asia-despite-cxmt-surge as a global memory chip rout that saw Applied Materials shares slump spread to Asia. Frencken , another Applied Materials supplier that suffered on Tuesday, rose much as 6.8 per cent to touch S$2.50. Friday’s gains followed a Wall Street surge https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/capital-markets-currencies/us-stocks-wall-street-ends-sharply-higher-lifted-soaring-microsoft in its Thursday session, as US-listed chip stocks soared and Microsoft logged its biggest daily percentage gain in 18 years . The technology giant gave a stronger-than-expected forecast, easing fears about AI infrastructure overspending, and logged the largest one-day gain on record for a company. Investors globally have been fearful of such heavy spending on AI at big technology firms throughout this year. But the positivity returned to most of Asia on Friday morning, including South Korea’s Kospi https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/capital-markets-currencies/asia-stocks-rise-sk-hynix-samsung-fuel-south-korean-recovery-yen-holds-gains . Seen as a bellwether for AI investments, the tech-heavy index soared over 14 per cent, rebounding from a three-day sell-off, with shares of memory manufacturers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics surging. In Singapore, despite the chip gains, the Straits Times Index STI was down about 0.9 per cent as at 9.35 am after the trio of local banks were in the red. DBS shares were down about 1 per cent at that time, while OCBC was down 0.9 per cent and UOB retreated 1.4 per cent. Decoding Asia newsletter: your guide to navigating Asia in a new global order. Sign up here to get Decoding Asia newsletter. Delivered to your inbox. Free. Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.