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Asia’s chip stocks are taking a hard hit even after Wall Street’s big rally. Shares of major Japanese and South Korean semiconductor companies fell sharply in Thursday trading as investors worried that the U.S. election result could slow the artificial-intelligence and data-center building boom.
Japan’s Lasertec fell 11.76%, Advantest dropped 11.69% and Tokyo Electron declined 9.89%, CNBC reported in its Wednesday-evening U.S. market updates. In South Korea, SK Hynix lost 9.03% and Samsung Electronics fell 6.65%.
These were trading-session moves, not closing prices. Thursday’s Asian session was underway while it was still Wednesday evening in the United States.
A selloff aimed at the AI boom
The selling reflected concern that a Democratic-controlled Congress could bring tighter restrictions on data-center development, potentially reducing demand for the infrastructure and chips that power AI, CNBC reported. The market reaction is a bet on what policy might change, not evidence that new restrictions have already become law.
The pressure extended beyond the five major chip names. Renesas Electronics fell 6.37%, while technology investment company SoftBank Group was down more than 6%, according to the same report.
For investors, the split matters: a rising broad market can still conceal steep losses in the companies most exposed to AI spending. Chip stocks and technology funds tied to that spending can move very differently from the overall index.
Wall Street’s rally did not protect every sector
The Dow had gained more than 1,500 points Wednesday and the S&P 500 rose 1.6%, while U.S. oil futures fell more than 8%, CNBC reported. Yet stocks connected to data-center construction faced worries about a political backlash to the industry’s expansion.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.49% in the Asian trading snapshot reported by CNBC, even as those chip shares sank. South Korea’s Kospi was down 2.33%. The contrast shows that Thursday’s early trading was not a uniform retreat across every Asian market.
The chip selloff is a separate development from the mixed opening JBizNews reported earlier, with investors now testing how much of the AI growth story depends on a smooth path for new data centers.
JBizNews Desk | Global
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