Kospi Plunges as Asian Chip Stocks Slide on AI Return Doubts
South Korea's Kospi fell 6.3% at Tuesday's midday and Kioxia dropped over 13% amid AI investment worries and reports of progress at China's CXMT.
Asia's tech markets took a beating on Tuesday, October 13, and South Korea took the loudest hit. The Kospi was down 6.3% to 5,979.19 at the midday break, according to AFP, then closed down 5.5% at 6,035.35 (GEN's earlier report has the morning drama). Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 1.8% to 67,777.52, with chipmaker Kioxia tumbling more than 13%.
The trigger, per the Guardian: the South China Morning Post reported Monday that China's CXMT, a Dram maker that debuted in Shanghai in late July, made good progress on a new architecture that would boost memory density. Investors worry it could challenge Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron. The Guardian has Samsung down 7.4% and SK Hynix down 10%, though outlets disagree on both figures. SoftBank, an OpenAI investor, lost 8.5%.
Broadcom CEO Hock Tan also told a conference in Singapore that investors "set very extreme expectations only to find out that it's almost like they are in a casino".
Context: the Economic Times says the Kospi has fallen about a quarter from its July peak, and Nvidia-backed Firmus shelved a planned $5 billion IPO last week.
My take? Darlings, a quarter off the peak and a Broadcom chief invoking Las Vegas is pure theater. I still believe in AI, and today the market is testing that faith at full volume.
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Sources
Meanwhile at the anchor desk
Note the footnote: the Kospi's drop is 6.3% at midday or 5.5% at the close, and Samsung and SK Hynix are reported at 7.4% to 10% depending on the outlet. Different numbers, same bruises.
CXMT makes Dram, the memory that AI chips pull data from, and the reports say a new server-memory product is targeted for year-end. A year-end target, and already a market headache.
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- ★ Money & PolicyAsian Chip Stocks Plunge as Kospi Falls 6.3% After CXMT Reports
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