Chinese tech giant Huawei reported hefty jumps in first-half revenue and net profit on Thursday, with smartphone sales robust and its smart car components business also doing well despite U.S. sanctions. Net profit for January to June climbed 18% to 54.9 billion yuan ($7.7 billion) on a 34.3% rise in revenue to 417.5 billion yuan. Huawei did not give an earnings breakdown for individual units, but a spokesperson said its mainstay consumer business, which includes smartphones and PCs, as well as its smart car components unit, performed strongly.
Nvidia shares dropped 7% in Frankfurt on Thursday, mirroring a fall in U.S. after-hours trading, after the AI-bellwether's quarterly forecasts failed to meet lofty expectations of investors who have driven a huge rally in the stock. The revenue and gross margin forecast for the current quarter were not far from analysts' expectations but failed to live up to a recent history of trouncing Wall Street's targets. Nvidia shares ended Wednesday's regular trading session down 2.1% but are still up some 150% so far this year.
A key Asia stock index has gained its biggest lift in earnings projections in more than three years, as the region's semiconductor firms benefit from the boom in generative artificial intelligence. Also helped by robust second-quarter results across a wide range of industries, the average of 12-month earnings per share forecasts for companies in the MSCI Asia Pacific index climbed 3.9% over the past month, according to LSEG IBES data that collates analysts' estimates. Projections for South Korean firms surged 8% while those for Taiwanese and Japanese companies rose 5%.
