AI rebound reverses Tuesday: Elice crashes 32% on Seoul debut, KOSPI sinks to six-month low, Nasdaq futures and chip stocks fall premarket; Brent tops $110 (Oct 20)
What happened
South Korean AI cloud and data-center company Elice plunged 32% on its Seoul trading debut Tuesday — the worst debut for a sizable company in years — reigniting doubts about the sustainability of the AI spending boom. The KOSPI fell 3.7% to close at its lowest level in more than six months, with memory giants SK Hynix and Samsung leading the decline. The weakness crossed into U.S. trading: Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.4% (S&P 500 futures flat, Dow futures up 0.2%), and chip stocks including Micron, Marvell, and SanDisk each fell more than 2% in U.S. premarket trading. Separately, WTI crude jumped more than 3% and Brent topped $111 a barrel — up 13% in October — on lingering Middle East supply risks.
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Start your free 14-day trialWho’s affected
- Nvidia (NVDA), Micron (MU), Marvell (MRVL), SanDisk (SNDK), Western Digital (WDC) — chip/AI-infrastructure names under renewed pressure; MU/MRVL/SNDK fell 2%+ premarket
- SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics — led KOSPI to its lowest in 6+ months
- SoftBank Group — down 6%+ as credit-default swaps hit a near-4-year high on AI-financing concerns
- Energy producers — Brent above $110/bbl supports revenues but feeds inflation fears
- Broader tech/AI complex (Mag 7, SOXX) — SOXX snapped a 9-day losing streak Monday but fell 1.1% premarket Tuesday