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Futures up: Dow 0.47%, S&P 500 0.76%, Nasdaq 1.33%

Sept 26 (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 ( NVDA ) rising

1.2%, Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) advancing 2.2% and Broadcom ( AVGO )

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 ( MSFT ) 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 ( FCX )

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 ( PDD ) rose

7% and Alibaba added 5.3%.