SoftBank sinks as Asia chip stocks track Wall Street AI rout
Asian technology stocks experienced a significant sell-off following a broader downturn in U.S. semiconductor shares. Investors are expressing growing skepticism regarding the sustainability of aggressive AI-related capital expenditures.
Why it matters
The decline highlights potential market volatility and cooling investor sentiment toward the AI infrastructure boom.
Asian tech stocks tumbled on Friday as a fresh rout in U.S. semiconductor shares spread across Asia, underscoring growing worries about AI spending.
Shares of SoftBank closed 9% lower, while chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron lost over 8% and Advantest slid 7.2%, tracking steep overnight losses on Wall Street.
Japanese memory chipmaker Kioxia plunged over 16% after a federal jury in Texas on Thursday ordered the firm to pay $229 million in damages after finding it infringed a Viasat patent related to computer memory technology.
South Korea's markets were closed for a public holiday. On Thursday, shares of SK Hynix closed over 11% lower.
Taiwan's TSMC fell 7.29% on Friday, a day after the company posted a sharp jump in profit, topping market expectations.
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