SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics, SoftBank
A semiconductor wafer is on display at Touch Taiwan, an annual exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan, on April 16, 2025.
Anne Wang | Reuters
Asian tech stocks continued their sell-off on Wednesday; semiconductor names lead declines after another weak session in the US
In South Korea, SK Hynix lost more than 10% after the chip giant reported a record quarter of profit and revenue but missed analysts’ forecasts. Samsung Electronics lost over 4%, while LG Innotek lost 9% and Seoul Semiconductor lost over 6%.
Kieron Poon, investment director of Asian equities at Aberdeen Investments, said in a note on Tuesday that the recent weakness in Asian chip stocks reflects “ongoing deleveraging in Korea and weakening sentiment towards global technology stocks.” But he added that the recent volatility “does not change our positive long-term view.”
Japan’s chip names were also rejected. Japan’s computer memory maker Kioxia lost 10%. Tokyo Electron fell 8.5%, while SoftBank Group, a major representative of artificial intelligence investments thanks to its stake in Arm, lost more than 7%.
Mainland China’s tech-heavy ChiNext 300 index lost 1.83%, while the Hang Seng China Semiconductor Chip Index fell more than 5%.
Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, fell 1.32%.
The declines in Asia came after US semiconductor stocks had a weak session overnight.
Nvidia sank at the opening but closed the session flat. Intel lost about 6% and AMD lost 8%. Memory space names Micron and Seagate lost more than 8%, Western Digital lost nearly 7% and Sandisk lost 14%. SK Hynix US stocks fell 9 percent.
Despite the sharp pullback, Aberdeen sees the sell-off as an opportunity rather than a deterioration in fundamentals. “The recent pullback in the market has brought valuations to more attractive levels, creating opportunities for us to find high-quality businesses at more affordable prices,” Poon said.
