European stocks opened higher on Thursday, as chipmakers rose on expectations of increased sales of 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 expected first-quarter revenue higher than Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, citing strong demand for its chips to be used for 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.
The minutes of the most recent 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 required additional interest rate increases.