European stocks belonging to the semiconductor sector stand out at the top of the charts. Strongest increase in the CAC 40, STMicroelectronics gained 3.96% to 24.41 euros. Its competitor Infineon (+4.74% to 32.47 euros) dominates the DAX 40 while ASML (+4.51% to 719 euros) occupies the same position within the AEX index. They benefit from a bundle of good news: the sharp rise in the Nasdaq on Friday – thanks in particular to the chip sector (+2.83% for the Sox sector index) – and Microsoft’s significant investments in data centers .
“In fiscal 2025, Microsoft is on track to invest approximately $80 billion to build AI-enabled data centers to train AI models and deploy AI-based applications. AI and the cloud around the world,” said the IT giant. More than half of this investment will be made in the United States.
Other positive news for the sector: the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, Foxconn, revealed record fourth-quarter revenues and a robust outlook for the first quarter. Foxconn works in particular for Apple and Nvidia. Its turnover between October and December increased by 15.2% to reach 2,132 billion Taiwan dollars (62.70 billion euros). Foxconn benefited in particular from strong demand for AI servers.
“Even with record revenues in the fourth quarter of 2024, sequential performance in the first quarter will reach levels roughly similar to the average of the last five years; compared to the previous year, it is expected to show significant growth.” the technology firm said.
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