Chip firms fall in US and Asia as AI jitters rattle investors

Shares of major semiconductor companies fell sharply in the United States and Asia as a sell‑off in artificial‑intelligence‑related stocks intensified. Trading on South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index was suspended temporarily on Tuesday morning after it slipped 8%. When the 20‑minute halt ended, the index dropped further to roughly 10% lower. The decline was driven by technology firms, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each losing more than 10%. The move follows a 5% drop for Nvidia in New York on Monday, which caused the chipmaker to relinquish its title as the world’s most valuable listed company to Apple. The tech‑heavy Kospi has triggered eight circuit‑breaker halts so far this year, a mechanism intended to curb panic selling. After more than doubling from the start of the year to mid‑June, the index has since shed about one‑third of its value. In recent months, South Korean equity trading has been unusually volatile, drawing large numbers of retail investors. On Monday, the U.S.–listed shares of SK Hynix fell 7.5% to well below the $149 level, shortly after its record‑setting debut on the Nasdaq on July 9. Japan’s Nikkei 225, also heavily weighted toward technology, was about 4.5% lower on Tuesday morning. Nvidia’s shares slipped on Monday after the Wall Street Journal reported that the firm is in discussions to provide roughly $250 billion to OpenAI for a major data‑center initiative. The BBC has approached Nvidia and OpenAI for comment. The decline enabled Apple to surpass Nvidia as the world’s most valuable company, after the iPhone maker gained about 25% this year. As governments and corporations allocate hundreds of billions of dollars to AI processing power, some analysts doubt whether the technology will become profitable enough to justify such outlays.