Nvidia shares surged Thursday after the company delivered a strong earnings report, triggering a rally across global semiconductor stocks. Despite ongoing U.S. export restrictions to China, Nvidia exceeded Wall Street’s expectations for both revenue and profit, reinforcing its role as a key barometer for the chip industry and the broader AI sector.

Following the upbeat report, Nvidia’s stock climbed 6%, lifting other prominent names in the sector. Taiwan Semiconductor, AMD, and Qualcomm each gained around 1% in U.S. trading. The momentum extended to Asia as Tokyo Electron jumped over 4%, and SK Hynix, a major supplier of high-bandwidth memory to Nvidia, ended the day up nearly 2% in South Korea.

In Europe, chipmakers also saw a lift. Shares of ASM International, BE Semiconductor Industries, and ASML all traded in positive territory, with investor confidence seemingly restored by Nvidia’s solid performance.

The rally comes despite persistent headwinds for the industry, including U.S. export controls targeting China. These have already led to sharp valuation losses for companies like ASML, which saw billions wiped off its market cap in recent months. Nvidia itself revealed it had written off $4.5 billion worth of H20 chip inventory that could no longer be shipped to China, alongside an estimated $2.5 billion in lost revenue.

Export restrictions remain firmly in place, with the U.S. now extending licensing requirements to firms that produce essential chemicals and semiconductor design software, according to a Reuters report released Thursday.

Still, Nvidia’s ability to outperform in the face of regulatory and geopolitical challenges has reassured markets. Its graphics processing units, central to the development of large AI models, remain in high demand—suggesting that the AI-driven chip boom is far from over.