Asia selloff deepens: KOSPI plunges 7.7%, Nikkei drops 4.8% as AI rout spreads; trading curbs triggered in Seoul

What happened

Asian equities tumbled sharply on Thursday as the AI-driven selloff spread from Wall Street. South Korea's Kospi plunged 7.7% to 5,548.78, with Samsung Electronics down 9.5% and SK Hynix down 11.4%. The drop triggered sell-side trading curbs (sidecars) on both the Kospi and the Kosdaq — the first time both were halted on the same day in about 11 weeks — and foreign investors sold a net $1.4 billion of Korean shares. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 4.8%, with SoftBank down 9.4%, Tokyo Electron down 7.3% and Kioxia down 11.2%, while Taiwan's Taiex shed 3% and the MSCI Asia-Pacific ex-Japan index dropped 3.4%, its fourth straight losing session.

Who’s affected

• Samsung Electronics (-9.5%, memory/AI chip exposure)
• SK Hynix (-11.4%, HBM/memory leader)
• Tokyo Electron (-7.3%, chip equipment)
• Kioxia (-11.2%, memory)
• SoftBank Group (-9.4%, OpenAI investor/AI proxy)
• TSMC (-2.2% despite record Q3 profit)
• Nvidia/AMD/Broadcom (U.S. chip names facing overnight sentiment spillover)
• CoreWeave/Oracle (AI-debt financing stress); broad Asia-Pacific equities (MSCI Asia-Pacific ex-Japan -3.4%)

Sources

koreajoongangdaily.comthehindubusinessline.comtradersunion.comtradingview.com