South Korea stocks fall 5% as tech heavyweights follow plunge in Wall Street’s AI-linked names South Korean stocks experienced a significant decline on Friday, with the Kospi index falling 5.01% due to a slump in heavyweight tech companies like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. This downturn mirrored a broader market sentiment shift on Wall Street, where investors rotated out of AI-linked chip stocks following Broadcom’s earnings miss. Concerns over Middle East tensions also contributed to market pressure.

• South Korea’s Kospi index dropped 5.01%, with Samsung Electronics down 4.34% and SK Hynix down 7.57%.
• The slump in Asia followed a sell-off in Wall Street’s tech sector, particularly chip names like Broadcom, Arm Holdings, and Micron Technology.
• Investors appeared to rotate out of chip stocks and into non-tech stocks, contributing to the Nasdaq’s underperformance while the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record high.
• South Korea’s labor minister urged tech companies to share AI semiconductor boom profits with workers and suppliers to combat income inequality.
• Middle East tensions also contributed to pressure on global markets and a spike in oil and gasoline prices.