US tech sell-off hits stocks in Seoul and Tokyo

South Korea's Kospi index plummeted over 8% during early trading on Friday, prompting a circuit breaker as technology and chip stocks drove the index below the 5,000-point threshold for the first time in nine months. The Korea Exchange (KRX) temporarily halted all stock and derivatives trading at 9:03 am local time (00:03 GMT) to prevent further damage.

The index fell around 500 points, or 8.6%, at 2:26 am GMT, according to Jun Kwang-woo, chairman of the Institute for Global Economics. Kwang-woo suggested that the market may be overreacting due to the outcome of the US midterm elections. He also noted that the pace of AI infrastructure development, particularly data centers, could potentially slow down due to concerns in several states, including Texas.

US stock markets experienced their worst single-day decline in over a year on Thursday, mainly due to a sharp drop in high-flying technology and semiconductor shares. The uncertainty surrounding AI policies and data center regulations following the Democratic Party's strong showing in the US midterm elections caused shockwaves across hardware and chip suppliers.

South Korean chipmaker Samsung Electronics saw its shares drop 10%, while SK Hynix fell 13%. Other significant declines included LG Energy Solution, which lost 4%, and Hyundai Motor and Kia Corp, both down 6.9% and 4%, respectively.