Hong Kong (AFP) - Asian markets rallied on Wednesday as tech firms enjoyed a much-needed rebound, with investors taking heart from upbeat earnings that lifted sentiment ahead of a crucial reporting season.

Seoul and Tokyo were boosted as chipmakers and other key players in the AI buildout boom chalked up healthy gains, following a torrid few weeks fuelled by concerns about profitability and debt financing.

South Korea’s SK hynix and Samsung both surged, while Kioxia, Advantest and SoftBank spiked in Japan – having all been pummelled since the start of last week.

The gains came after Elon Musk’s SpaceX reported its first quarterly profit as a public company, as deals to rent out computing power to AI firms sent revenue at its artificial intelligence unit soaring.

The firm’s $4.4 billion net profit for July-September was more than double what was expected and compared with a loss of $1.1 billion a year earlier. Revenue at the firm – which listed after a world-record IPO in June – jumped 161 percent to $14.6 billion.

Musk, the world’s richest man, meanwhile said he would back a merger of SpaceX and Tesla, adding that the combination would be “a good idea”. Such a tie-up would be the biggest of all time.

Musk said committees of independent directors at both firms had been set up to study the idea at the request of shareholders.

Server-maker Super Micro Computer also provided a fillip to buying sentiment when it said preliminary quarterly earnings had come in better than forecast.

The developments soothed worries on trading floors about the outlook for the AI boom, which has seen companies pump hundreds of billions into R&D, software, building data centres and other hardware in recent years.

It also bodes well ahead of reports from Magnificent Seven members Tesla and Meta later in the day.

“Clear earnings beats and constructive corporate updates are helping to ease some of the AI anxiety that has surfaced in recent sessions,” Tim Waterer of KCM Trade said.

“If (Meta and Tesla’s) reports deliver similarly strong results and guidance, it could go some way toward reigniting broader AI enthusiasm and giving the sector more sustained momentum.”

Seoul’s Kospi jumped more than three percent, with infrastructure firm Elice soaring nearly 30 percent, almost wiping out the colossal losses it suffered on its trading debut on Tuesday.

Tokyo rose along with Sydney, Singapore, Wellington, Jakarta, Manila and Taipei. However, traders elsewhere struggled to maintain momentum, and Hong Kong dropped along with Shanghai, Mumbai and Bangkok.

- Oil jumps again -

In Sydney, data centre developer Nextdc tanked more than 40 percent after slashing its outlook and renewing its capital expenditure programme.

London fell, though Paris and Milan edged up after two days of losses linked to concerns about the economic impact of violent unrest in France and Italy. Frankfurt was flat.

The gains followed a largely healthy day on Wall Street, although analysts said a lot of the gains there were spurred by traders rotating into industrial firms and away from the once-all-powerful tech sector. The Dow ended up one percent and the Nasdaq was marginally lower.

Oil prices jumped on supply concerns as the UKMTO maritime agency said on Wednesday that a tanker sailing off the north coast of Qatar had reported being struck “by multiple projectiles”, causing an unspecified number of casualties.

The British agency did not specify the origin of the ship.

The reported attack was around 500 kilometres (300 miles) from the Strait of Hormuz, where ships have come under repeated attack since the United States and Israel sparked the Middle East war in late February. Iran has blockaded the strait ever since and fired on vessels it accuses of unauthorised crossings.

Both main crude contracts had fallen on Tuesday after Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari described US-Iran talks as “ongoing”.

Chinese battery giant CATL dived more than 11 percent in Hong Kong after its profit growth for July-September fell short of estimates.

- Key figures at around 0810 GMT -

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.9 percent at 64,621.24 (close)

Seoul - Kospi: UP 3.3 percent at 5,735.66 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.9 percent at 23,651.87 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.6 percent at 3,713.03 (close)

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.3 percent at 10,705.06

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.8 percent at $98.58 per barrel

Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.9 percent at $109.72 per barrel

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1226 from $1.1235 on Tuesday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3388 from $1.3378

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 158.12 yen from 158.23 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.84 pence from 83.98 pence

New York - Dow: UP 1.0 percent at 52,495.88 (close)