European shares open higher as Nvidia forecast boosts chip stocks

European shares opened higher on Thursday, as chip stocks rose following a positive sales forecast from U.S. semiconductor designer Nvidia.

ASM International, BE Semiconductor and Aixtron rose between 1.6% and 3.2%, boosting the European technology sector by 0.9%.

Nvidia Corp forecast first-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, noting the strong boost it saw from the use of its chips in artificial intelligence (AI) services like chatbots.

The broader Europe STOXX 600 index rose 0.1% by 0806 GMT, after two straight sessions of declines on worries of central banks raising interest rates for longer.

Minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's last policy meeting released on Wednesday showed nearly all policymakers rallied behind a decision to further slow the pace of interest rate hikes, noting inflation would determine how much further rates needed to rise.