Asian shares fell sharply on Friday as a Wall Street sell-off spread to the chipmakers and technology groups that have benefited from the boom in artificial intelligence. South Korea’s Kospi plunged more than 8 per cent in early trading, triggering a temporary trading halt, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Taiwan’s Taiex also suffered steep losses.
Chipmakers lead the decline
The Korea Exchange suspended stock and derivatives trading for 20 minutes after the Kospi hit a nine-month low. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both fell more than 10 per cent at one point before recovering some ground. South Korean authorities temporarily eased rules on leveraged retail investment to limit forced selling, while domestic investors bought shares as foreign investors sold.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell around 6 per cent during the session. Memory chipmaker Kioxia and technology investor SoftBank Group both recorded double-digit declines. In Taiwan, shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company fell sharply at the open, and the Taiex closed 4.5 per cent lower after dropping more than 8 per cent in early trade. Hong Kong and mainland Chinese benchmarks also fell, though their early losses were smaller.
Investors reassess data centre spending
The declines followed a 5.5 per cent fall in the Nasdaq Composite on Thursday. After Democratic gains in the US midterm elections, investors weighed the prospect of tighter scrutiny of AI and data centre development. The election added to an existing concern about whether the revenue from AI services will justify the sums technology companies are committing to new computing capacity.
The pace of construction matters to Asian suppliers because new data centres drive orders for advanced processors, high-bandwidth memory and chipmaking equipment. If US customers push back projects, suppliers could see orders arrive later than investors had expected. Friday’s moves reflected a reassessment of that risk. The next evidence will come from whether major technology companies revise their spending plans and whether chipmakers report changes in customer orders.
NewsHub Finance | Markets | 6 November 2026
Asian shares fell sharply on Friday as a Wall Street sell-off spread to the chipmakers and technology groups that have benefited from the boom in artificial intelligence. South Korea’s Kospi plunged more than 8 per cent in early trading, triggering a temporary trading halt, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Taiwan’s Taiex also suffered steep losses.
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