Nikkei, Kospi und Topix: Ausverkauf bei Chipaktien erfasst Japan und Südkorea

A panic sell-off at Wall Street on Friday continued to impact stock markets in Japan and South Korea on Friday. The Nikkei 225 Index briefly dropped 6.7 percent, settling at a level not seen since April, while South Korea's Kospi Index dropped more than eight percent at the opening bell. Initial losses were partially recovered by the afternoon, with the Nikkei 225 falling 5.3 percent to 57,585 points and the broader Topix index declining 5.4 percent to 3,726 points.

The South Korean Kospi fell 4.5 percent to 5,139 points. Taiwan's Taiex index fell 3.6 percent by 10:48 a.m. local time. Even more resilient regional markets were dragged down, with Singapore's Straits Times Index down 2.1 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slipping 0.5 percent and Shanghai's Composite index falling 1 percent.

Wall Street's decline began on Thursday afternoon and gained momentum. The Dow Jones fell 3.4 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 5.5 percent, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor index fell 12.2 percent. The sell-off on Wall Street followed the Democrats' clear victory in the US midterm elections, where they gained a majority in both chambers of Congress.

Journalist Naka Matsuzawa of the Japanese investment bank Nomura cites two reasons: concerns over stricter regulations on artificial intelligence and excessive competition from China. Many Democrats support local initiatives to regulate the construction of AI data centers more strictly. Doubts grow about how AI companies and data center operators will recoup their multi-billion dollar investments.

US President Donald Trump attributes the stock market's decline to the Democrats, stating, "It's sad to see this!" He also targets American retirement accounts, mainly invested in stock 401(k) plans, claiming, "That's why your 401(k) plans have lost value. It wasn't the Republicans, it was the 'Dumocrats'." The term, an allusion to the English word "dumb," is a regular insult Trump uses against Democrats.

Semiconductor stocks fell well below their record highs. The crisis has spread beyond semiconductors, with Japanese companies experiencing less punishment this week after delivering strong half-year results. Softbank, a major shareholder in US AI developer OpenAI, is hit twice. While other chip and AI stocks recovered some of their losses in the afternoon, Softbank's stock remains more than 11 percent below its trading peak.

This is due to news that China's foreign investment watchdog has rejected Softbank's attempt to acquire Swiss industrial conglomerate ABB Robotics for $5.4 billion. Softbank announced its intention to purchase ABB Robotics' robotics division for $5.4 billion in October 2025. Kazuo Hiyane of Mitsubishi Research Institute sees this as a "serious blow to future strategy in physical AI," referring to AI-driven robots and machines.

Softbank and ABB are reportedly in constructive dialogue, stating both parties are working together on the transaction. The outcome of these decisions will be announced promptly. A positive side effect of the AI-related trust crisis is the significant drop in inflation risk, which has led to a decrease in US 10-year Treasury yields from 5.305 percent to 4.83 percent and Japanese yields from 3.105 percent to 2.675 percent.

This represents the lowest level in Japan since late June. The yen has slightly strengthened, with the dollar falling 0.2 percent to about 158 yen, and the euro falling 0.5 percent to 176.92 yen.