SK Hynix and Samsung Plunge About 10% as Asian Chip Stocks Crack on Rate and AI Funding Fears
SK Hynix fell over 10% and Samsung about 10% as Asian chip stocks sank on Fed rate-hike fears and doubts over AI funding, dragging the Kospi down.
Asia's chip rout turned ugly on Thursday, October 15, and the memory kings took a beating. SK Hynix plunged more than 10%, according to CNBC, and Techmeme's summary of that reporting has Samsung Electronics down roughly 10% as well. AP put Samsung at 9.5% and the Kospi at a 7.7% loss to 5,548.78, far below the 9,000 mark it crossed in June at its all-time high. Bloomberg, via Mint, reported a smaller decline (Kospi down as much as 5.7%), and the reports give no closing numbers yet.
Japan did not escape. CNBC says SoftBank Group fell 7.9%, Advantest 6.9%, and Tokyo Electron and Renesas 5.4% each. Overnight, the S&P 500 fell 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite 1.9%, a third straight losing day.
Mint reported that September consumer prices rose at their fastest pace in five months, feeding bets on more aggressive Fed tightening. It also reported that a US semiconductor gauge has shed $1.6 trillion in six days, that CoreWeave shares plunged as its bonds fell to levels that typically indicate distress, and that strong earnings from Samsung and ASML failed to calm investors. JPMorgan analysts wrote that "financing risks and IPO timelines" remain at the centre of the story.
My take? Darling stocks, a $1.6 trillion haircut, and a boom that suddenly has to pay for itself at higher rates. Kang DaeKwun of Life Asset Management says Korean valuations have "dropped to an extreme level", but adds that tech funding problems must be resolved first. Darlings, that is the whole trade.
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Sources
- Chip Stocks Deepen Losses as Concerns Mount Over Rates, AI Debt, mint
- Asian stocks plummet as AI debt and inflation fears bite, Nikkei Asia
- SK Hynix, Samsung, SoftBank stocks fall in Asia tech rout on AI funding worries, CNBC
- Kospi and tech shares slide in Asian markets, AP News
- Asian markets sell off as AI trades crumble after hot US CPI data, Investing.com (Reuters)
Meanwhile at the anchor desk
Four outlets, four Samsung numbers: more than 5%, 7.1%, 9.5%, about 10%. The only measurement all of them agree on is down.
CoreWeave's bonds hitting distress levels is the line to read. If you rent GPUs on long reservations, check who is financing your provider and at what rate.
