SoftBank, Samsung and SK Hynix Hit Hard in Asia AI Sell-Off

SoftBank, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix were the largest losers in a broad sell-off of Asian technology stocks, with SoftBank down 9.7% in Tokyo by midday. In Seoul, SK Hynix fell 13% and Samsung dropped 8.8% as the Kospi declined 6.4%.

The slide followed losses in US semiconductor names the previous day. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 4.3%, SanDisk declined about 13% and Micron, Intel and AMD each lost roughly 5% to 6%. Strong quarterly results from TSMC did not stop the wider sell-off in hardware-related stocks.

Investors focused on companies with concentrated exposure to AI infrastructure. SK Hynix is the clearest listed provider of high-bandwidth memory used with Nvidia accelerators. Samsung combines conventional memory, high-bandwidth memory and an advanced foundry business. SoftBank holds a large stake in Arm and has major investments in OpenAI, data centres and robotics, tying much of its market value to continued large-scale AI spending.

SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son described bubble concerns as “absurd” and estimated AI could require $5 trillion of annual investment by 2040. SoftBank’s cumulative commitment to OpenAI is expected to exceed $60 billion by the end of 2026.

Market structure and leverage amplified the moves, particularly in South Korea. HSBC strategists led by Herald van der Linde warned that retail investors had been buying aggressively with borrowed money and via leveraged exchange-traded products, while foreign investors were net sellers. HSBC estimated Korean single-stock leveraged products expanded to about $12 billion within a month, with another $15 billion listed in Hong Kong, and that these products accounted for as much as 35% of Kospi turnover in some sessions.

Regulators in South Korea suspended new single-stock leveraged ETF listings and tripled the minimum deposit required for new leveraged investments. Goldman Sachs has argued that position unwinding, rather than a sudden breakdown in the semiconductor cycle, amplified recent declines in Samsung and SK Hynix.

Analysts at Meritz Securities estimated DRAM producers are currently fulfilling about 75% to 80% of orders and warned fill rates could fall toward 60% by 2027. The analyst noted that deeper shortages would support higher memory prices and earnings over time if demand outpaces new capacity.

Market participants are debating how quickly heavy spending on chips, memory and data centres will translate into profits, especially as financing costs rise and cloud providers face pressure to show returns on AI infrastructure investments.