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Futures up: Dow 0.22%, S&P 500 0.31%, Nasdaq 0.64%

Dec 13 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on

Friday, with those linked to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 in the

lead, after an upbeat forecast from chipmaker Broadcom ( AVGO ) kept

alive the euphoria around artificial intelligence.

Broadcom ( AVGO ) forecast quarterly revenue above Wall

Street estimates on Thursday and predicted booming demand for

its custom AI chips in the next few years, sending its shares

15% higher in premarket trading on the day.

"Clients have been jumping up and down with excitement at

how AI could supercharge their earnings ... this hive of

activity has also put Broadcom ( AVGO ) on investors' radar as an

alternative way to play the AI boom than just Nvidia ( NVDA )," said Dan

Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.

The optimism spread to other chip stocks, with rival Marvell

Technology ( MRVL ) rising 5.6%, Micron Technology ( MU )

gaining 2% and AI bellwether Nvidia ( NVDA ) up 1.1%.

This comes on the heels of a persistent technology stock

rally that propelled the Nasdaq above the 20,000 mark for the

first time on Wednesday. An in-line inflation reading cementing

a 25-basis-point cut from the Federal Reserve next week added to

the momentum.

Trader bets on the cut at the central bank's Dec. 17-18

meeting stand at over 96%, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.

However, they indicate chances of a pause in January after

numerous Fed officials last week cautioned a slower pace of

easing going forward.

At 5:25 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 97 points, or

0.22%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 19 points, or 0.31% and

Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 138.75 points, or 0.64%.

Wall Street had taken a breather in the previous session

after recent gains and some hot economic data ahead of the Fed's

meeting, setting the benchmark S&P 500 and the Dow for weekly

losses. However, the Nasdaq was on track to end the week higher.

The three main indexes have set multiple record highs this

year, as investors flocked to heavyweight tech stocks to

capitalize on the hype around AI.

U.S. equities ended November on a strong note after Donald

Trump's win in the presidential election on the prospects of

business-friendly policies adding to corporate profits, and they

have kicked off December on a broadly positive note.

Among other movers, Salesforce ( CRM ) was up 1.8% after

KeyBanc upgraded the cloud software seller's stock to

"overweight" from "sector weight".