AI and memory-related stocks traded lower Thursday after a sharp selloff in Asian semiconductor shares rattled investors.
South Korea's Kospi Index dropped nearly 8%, weighed heavily by steep declines in memory giants SK Hynix (HXSCL) and Samsung Electronics (SSNLF). SK Hynix plunged almost 15%, while Samsung fell about 9%, despite both companies unveiling massive domestic investment plans tied to semiconductors and AI.
SK Hynix said it plans to invest 100 trillion won, or roughly $64B, in new memory and packaging facilities. Samsung separately outlined plans to invest 140 trillion won, or about $90B, in displays, batteries and semiconductors in South Korea's Chungcheong region.
The weakness spilled into U.S. chip stocks. Micron NASDAQ:MU fell nearly 3% premarket, while Nvidia NASDAQ:NVDA slipped about 1% and AMD NASDAQ:AMD lost roughly 2%. Storage names Western Digital NASDAQ:WDC, Seagate NASDAQ:STX and Sandisk NASDAQ:SNDK also traded lower.