KOSPI tumbles as Democrat sweep fuels AI infrastructure concerns

Korean stocks suffered a significant decline on Thursday, as fears of stricter U.S. regulations on artificial intelligence and data centers prompted a wide sell-off in semiconductor shares following the Democratic Party's landslide victory in the midterm elections. The KOSPI, a key stock market index in South Korea, opened at 5,580.09, a drop of 1.82 percent from the previous trading day.

Throughout the trading session, the index remained in the red, ultimately closing at 5,383.80, marking a 5.28 percent decrease. The primary cause of the market's downward spiral was the rapid sell-off in Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, which are the two largest semiconductor companies in the country and together make up almost half of the KOSPI's market capitalization.

The index's heavy reliance on these two chip giants left it particularly susceptible to fluctuations in investor sentiment towards the sector. SK hynix's share price plummeted by 9.46 percent, reaching 1.26 million won, while Samsung Electronics saw its stock drop by 7.57 percent, closing at 201,500 won. The downturn in Korean chip stocks mirrored a decline in related U.S. shares overnight.

Shares of Nvidia, a leading AI and graphics processing unit manufacturer, fell by 3.17 percent, while chipmakers Micron and SanDisk experienced losses of 7 percent and 7.91 percent, respectively.