AI spending doubts sink Asian chip stocks; SK Hynix falls 7%
Investors dumped chipmakers after disappointing results from Alphabet, Amazon and Intel. Seoul's Kospi fell more than 5% at one point, triggering a trading curb.
Graphic: TERRA WORLD NEWS (own graphic based on the sources listed)
Worries over the soaring cost of the artificial intelligence build-out sent Asian chip stocks sharply lower on Friday. Seoul's benchmark Kospi closed at 5,730.74, down 3.48%, after losing more than 5% at one point. A sell-side sidecar, which briefly halts program selling, was triggered at about 10:05 a.m. local time, the first since the Oct. 15 rout.
Memory chipmaker SK Hynix led the decline, falling 7.08%, while Samsung Electronics lost 3.02%. In Tokyo, chip tester maker Advantest and equipment maker Tokyo Electron each fell more than 5% during the session, and SoftBank lost nearly 7%. Contract chipmaker TSMC was down as much as 1.8% in Taiwan.
The selloff followed weak U.S. results: Alphabet and Amazon disappointed on profit and cash flow, and Intel shares fell more than 20% on weak guidance. "Successive earnings disappointments from big tech companies and chipmakers sparked a sell-off across the AI value chain," said Kang Jin-hyuk, a senior analyst at Shinhan Securities.