(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday, as a wave of optimism around artificial intelligence gripped Wall Street following Micron's upbeat forecast, while investors also awaited economic data and remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Micron Technology ( MU ) jumped 15.8% in premarket trading after the memory chip maker forecast higher than expected first-quarter revenue, underscoring that demand for memory chips used in AI computing was robust.

Other chip stocks also gained, with Nvidia rising 1.2%, Advanced Micro Devices advancing 2.2% and Broadcom adding 1.7%.

Meta led gains among other growth names, with a 1.7% rise, a day after unveiling an entry-level version of its Quest line of mixed-reality headsets. Alphabet added 1%, Tesla climbed 1.3% and Microsoft was up 0.7%.

At 05:21 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 197 points, or 0.47%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 43.5 points, or 0.76% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 268.25 points, or 1.33%.

Futures tracking the Russell 2000 small caps index added 0.83%.

The benchmark S&P 500 and blue-chip Dow have hit multiple record highs since the start of this year and the tech-laden Nasdaq is about 3% away from its own milestone as investors lap up shares of companies that could see a boost to earnings from AI-integration.

Expectations of lower interest rates have further strengthened the rally. Focus will now be on jobless claims data for the week ended Sept. 21 and a final second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) estimate. The reports are due at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Late on Wednesday, Fed Governor Adriana Kugler said she "strongly supported" the central bank's decision to kick off monetary policy easing with a rare half a percentage point cut last week, as part of an emerging focus on the job market.

The spotlight will now be on Powell's remarks at a New York conference expected before the market opens as investors look for clues on the outlook for the economy and the pace of further easing.

Odds of a 50 basis-point reduction in interest rates in November are at 60.8%, compared with 38.8% a week ago, as per the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.

Traders also await remarks from a host of Fed officials, including John Williams, Michael Barr, Michelle Bowman and Neel Kashkari.

Among others, copper miners such as Freeport-McMoRan rose 3.5%, while lithium miners such as Albemarle climbed 3.8% and Arcadium added 2.3% after a report said China plans to issue special sovereign bonds worth about 2 trillion yuan as part of a fresh fiscal stimulus.

The optimism also spread to U.S.-listed Chinese firms such as Li Auto that advanced 6.7%, PDD Holdings rose 7% and Alibaba added 5.3%.

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)