Kospi Falls About 8% as Chip Selloff Deepens

South Korea’s Kospi plunged about 8% on Thursday, extending its losing streak to seven sessions, while emergency trading halts were triggered and the Kosdaq activated circuit breakers. Chipmakers led the losses, with Samsung Electronics and SK hynix each falling around 10% or more, as weakness spread across Asian technology shares. The sell-off followed hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data that raised expectations of further Federal Reserve rate hikes and added to doubts about returns on heavy AI investment. Investors were also unsettled by intensifying competition from China’s CXMT in memory chips and concerns about financing AI infrastructure; foreign investors continued selling Korean equities, although some analysts said the longer-term outlook for AI-linked stocks could remain positive.