Asian tech stocks plunge as AI spending fears hit chipmakers
Japan's Nikkei fell 6.16 percent and South Korea's Kospi dropped 5.54 percent, with SK Hynix down 9 percent.
Asian technology stocks plunged on Friday after a sharp Wall Street sell-off, Turkey's state-run news agency Anadolu Agency reported.
Japan's Nikkei 225 tumbled 6.16 percent to 57,316.95, while South Korea's Kospi fell 5.54 percent to 5,085.55.
Taiwan's benchmark Taiex dropped 4.51 percent to 39,701.64.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 1.02 percent to 24,543.71.
In China, the Shanghai Composite lost 1.17 percent to 3,646.63, and the Shenzhen Component fell 2.4 percent to 11,196.22.
SK Hynix, a South Korean semiconductor producer, plunged 9 percent, while Samsung Electronics shed 5.6 percent.
In Japan, SoftBank Group slumped 10.4 percent, memory chipmaker Kioxia Holdings slid 10.8 percent and Tokyo Electron fell 5.4 percent.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest contract chipmaker, declined 4.7 percent, while Foxconn Technology fell 4.5 percent.
Selling also spread to Chinese technology stocks, with the STAR Market and the ChiNext Artificial Intelligence Index both falling more than 4 percent.
The regional declines followed a 5.5 percent plunge in the Nasdaq Composite on Thursday, which left the US technology-heavy index more than 10 percent below its recent peak and in correction territory.
A market correction generally refers to a decline of at least 10 percent from a recent high.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index sank 12.2 percent, reflecting sharp selling pressure across US chip stocks.
Investors were weighing whether Democrats' sweeping victory in the US midterm elections could lead to tighter restrictions on data-center construction, which could slow demand for AI chips and related infrastructure.
The prospect added to existing concerns about whether the AI investment boom can be sustained and whether massive spending on computing capacity will generate sufficient returns.
Chipmakers have been central to the boom in artificial intelligence, as technology companies pour heavy spending into data centers and computing capacity.
