South Korea Stocks Plunge 4% as AI Chip Selloff Sweeps Asia Markets
CNBC reported Friday that Asia-Pacific equity markets retreated sharply, with South Korea’s benchmark leading regional declines after a chip selloff Asia markets could not shake overnight.
Kospi Bears the Brunt of Tech Selloff
South Korea’s Kospi index shed 4.11% in Friday trading, pacing losses across the region. Chip giants Samsung and SK Hynix dropped 6% and 8%, respectively. The smaller-cap Kosdaq index also weakened, losing around 2.4%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell a more modest 1.1%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.2%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng futures pointed lower ahead of the open, sitting beneath the index’s prior close of 25,253.
Broadcom Miss Ignites Wall Street Rotation
The regional pressure traced directly to overnight moves on Wall Street. Broadcom shares tumbled more than 12% after the chipmaker’s fiscal second-quarter revenue came in below analyst estimates. The miss prompted a broader retreat from AI-adjacent semiconductor names. Arm Holdings fell over 4% and Micron Technology lost nearly 8%. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF dropped more than 1% on the session. Investors moved capital into non-tech names instead, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 874 points to a record close of 51,561. The Nasdaq edged down 0.09%, while the S&P 500 added 0.41%.
A Market Already Watching the Middle East
The selloff did not happen in isolation. Geopolitical uncertainty has clouded sentiment across global markets in recent weeks. Conflicting signals from ceasefire negotiations in the Middle East have unsettled investors and pushed oil and gasoline prices higher. Those macro pressures added an extra layer of caution to an already jittery session for Asian traders assessing their chip-heavy portfolios.
What Comes Next for Asia Tech
The scale of South Korea’s decline underscores how exposed its equity market remains to global semiconductor cycles. Samsung and SK Hynix together carry enormous weight in the Kospi, meaning any shakeout in AI hardware spending quickly becomes a national market event. Analysts will now watch whether this week’s rotation proves short-lived or marks a more durable reassessment of AI-linked valuations heading into summer.
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