European stocks opened higher, supported by chipmakers

European stocks opened higher on Thursday as chipmakers rose on expectations of increased sales from US semiconductor company Nvidia.

Shares of ASM International, BE Semiconductor and Extron rose between 1.6 and 3.2 percent, boosting the European technology sector 0.9 percent.

Nvidia Corp. projected first-quarter revenue higher than Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, citing strong demand for its chips in artificial intelligence services.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.1% by 0806 GMT, after falling for two consecutive sessions on fears that central banks would raise interest rates for a longer period.

Minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting released on Wednesday showed that almost all policymakers support the decision to slow the pace of interest rate hikes, noting that inflation will determine the additional rate hikes needed.