Dragged down by the sharp decline in U.S. chip stocks, the Asian technology sector collectively suffered a heavy setback, with SK Hynix’s share price plummeting over 11%
The sell-off of U.S. chip companies was transmitted to Asia, and the Asian semiconductor sector plummeted across the board on Thursday. SK Hynix's Seoul-listed shares fell more than 11%, completely giving up the 8% gain in the previous trading day. The logo of the SK Hynix office building in Seongnam, South Korea, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. The overnight sell-off in U.S. chip stocks spread to the Asian market, and the Asian semiconductor sector collectively weakened on Thursday; SK Hynix's stock price has continued to fluctuate sharply since its listing in the United States last week. SK Hynix closed down 11.5% in Seoul, completely erasing the previous day's 8% gain. The stock had just suffered its biggest one-day drop on Monday, as investors took stock on concerns about the prospect of artificial intelligence-related spending. South Korea's domestic peers suffered simultaneous setbacks: Samsung Electronics fell by more than 8%, Seoul Semiconductor fell by 5.13%, LG Innotek fell by 2.91%, and Samsung SDI fell by more than 4%. The decline spread across Asia. In the Japanese market, AI equipment manufacturer Advantest fell 5.93%. The group fell 6.27%, Tokyo Electronics fell more than 4%, and Renesas Electronics closed down 7%. The weakness in Asian chip stocks this time completely followed the overnight sell-off in the U.S. semiconductor sector: Technology plunges 8%, fell more than 4%, Lam Group, Chaowei Semiconductor ( ) were down about 3%. Rolf Bulk, head of semiconductor and infrastructure equity research at Future Group, said: "The Asian market fell sharply today, mainly due to the continuation of the overnight U.S. stock market." He pointed to two negative signals: New York plans to suspend new data center projects, and there is news that cloud computing company CoreWeave is hedging the risk of future downside risks in memory chip prices. New York State Governor Kathy Hochul issued an executive order on Tuesday to temporarily halt large-scale new data center projects. The state government will introduce more stringent regulations to control data center energy consumption, water use and environmental impact. Bourque said that this round of decline is more of profit-taking after the sharp rise, and the fundamentals of the industry have not deteriorated; the long-term structural demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure and memory chips remains solid. Major cloud manufacturers are scrambling to build AI computing power bases, and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips continue to be in short supply. Leading storage manufacturers such as SK Hynix and Micron have been able to maintain strong pricing power. Even if the lithography machine giant ASML (ASML) delivers a brilliant financial report, the chip sector still cannot escape the sell-off. The Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer raised its full-year revenue guidance for the second time this year, predicting full-year revenue of 43 billion to 45 billion euros, exceeding market analysts' expectations. It also announced plans to further expand production of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines. XFUNDs trader Louis Kondratieff analyzed that this round of correction stems from the long-term bullish trend in the artificial intelligence market, the accumulation of funds in the semiconductor track, and overcrowding of transactions. He said: "The current weight of the semiconductor sector accounts for nearly 20% of the S&P 500 Index, which is difficult to maintain in the long term. During the Internet bubble in 2000, the weight of semiconductors was only slightly more than 8%, and the historical average was only 2% to 5%." He added that although corporate earnings growth remains strong, the pace of stock price growth may be unsustainable as investors reassess the current high valuations. "Corporate earnings growth is very impressive, but growth is highly concentrated in the semiconductor industry; as valuations return to a reasonable range, this growth momentum may gradually slow down."