A sharp sell-off in technology shares rippled across global markets, with the decline centered on the companies that supply the chips powering the artificial intelligence boom.
The trouble started in Asia. According to Investing.com, South Korea's KOSPI index slumped 8% and triggered a circuit breaker — an automatic trading halt — as a long-running AI rally reversed. A separate report carried by MSN said the KOSPI fell about 10% from a record high, dragging down the country's memory-chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, both of which tumbled.
The pressure spread quickly. According to Yahoo Finance, Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures plunged as the global chip sell-off fueled fresh doubts about the AI trade, even amid progress in US-Iran talks. The Wall Street Journal described stock futures sliding as the technology sell-off spread, and The Times reported that jitters over AI spending were dragging markets lower. In India, Times Now reported the Sensex slid more than 500 points.
The common thread is unease over how much money is being poured into AI. Memory and chip stocks have soared on expectations of relentless demand; when investors question whether that spending is sustainable, the same names tend to fall fastest. Korean memory makers, which sell the chips data centers rely on, became the early flashpoint.
Why it matters: AI-linked technology stocks have driven much of the recent gains in global markets, so when confidence in that spending wobbles, the losses spread far beyond any single company to investors around the world.